The Documentary Podcast

Braille and me


Listen Later

Built around a game of braille Scrabble, Emma Tracey presents a celebration of braille, 200 years after it was invented. Emma, who’s been blind since birth, talks to others who love the six tiny dots: Geerat Vermeij, one of the world’s leading experts in molluscs; Yetnebersh Nigussie, an Ethiopian lawyer, who describes her blindness as "a lottery I won at the age of five"; Sheri Wells-Jensen, a linguistics professor who’s been a linguistic consultant on Star Trek and is on the US advisory board for messaging extra-terrestrial intelligence; Japanese concert pianist, Nobuyuki Tsujii, who learnt to play using braille music; and Emma's friend and Scrabble partner, Ellie. And there’s a chance encounter with the most famous braille user of them all, Stevie Wonder.

But can braille survive with the ever-increasing supply of tech that allows blind people to listen to, rather than feel, information?

Presenter: Emma Tracey

Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound design: Steve Brooke
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Documentary PodcastBy BBC World Service

  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3

4.3

1,588 ratings


More shows like The Documentary Podcast

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,409 Listeners

From Our Own Correspondent by BBC Radio 4

From Our Own Correspondent

369 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,756 Listeners

Business Daily by BBC World Service

Business Daily

536 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,767 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,081 Listeners

Discovery by BBC World Service

Discovery

954 Listeners

Lives Less Ordinary by BBC World Service

Lives Less Ordinary

569 Listeners

Witness History by BBC World Service

Witness History

955 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,951 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,051 Listeners

The Interview by BBC World Service

The Interview

373 Listeners

The Audio Long Read by The Guardian

The Audio Long Read

821 Listeners

The History Hour by BBC World Service

The History Hour

589 Listeners

The Inquiry by BBC World Service

The Inquiry

750 Listeners

The Real Story by BBC World Service

The Real Story

273 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

813 Listeners

CrowdScience by BBC World Service

CrowdScience

470 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

756 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,998 Listeners

The Explanation by BBC World Service

The Explanation

28 Listeners

The Global Story by BBC World Service

The Global Story

163 Listeners