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dangerous places. He thought, "Even if people cannot see, their feet can feel
the difference of the surfaces. (3) This will warn them of danger." In 1965,
after many trials and errors*,/he created some samples with his own money.
15 He gave these samples to the local government. In 1967, 230 of his blocks
were placed in front of an intersection* in Okayama City, Japan. These
These were
the world's first Braille Blocks.
3 Over time, the use of Braille Blocks spread in Japan, and then around the A-49
world. However, accidents sometimes happened where the blocks had not
20 yet been placed. Local governments and railroad companies quickly started
to place the blocks in dangerous areas. As a result, many organizations
made the Tenji Blocks with their own designs. This caused some confusion.
In 1996, the Japanese government started research to make standards for
the Tenji Blocks. A team of scientists and 60 people with vision problems
25 worked together to find the easiest ( A ) to use. Then, in 2001, the
standards were finally made.
still
4 Although the designs have been standardized, there are (4)many
problems. We still see various types of old blocks. They must be replaced
with new standard blocks as soon as possible. In addition, the standards do
30 not say the color or material to use, or how to place the blocks.
A-50
In March 2012, the ISO* (International Organization for Standardization) A-51
32
