Polish Tactile Alphabet
What can an alphabet on a glove change?
Thanks to its simplicity, an alphabet glove is an incredibly versatile tool that allows you to achieve communication equality without asking for help, without translation, without barriers. In a crowded and noisy place, in an office, in a shop – a glove with an alphabet enables tactile communication with someone who has never had contact with people with hearing and/or visual impairments before.
Most popular and functional tactile alphabets are not based on dots, but on a whole system of signs, lines and circles drawn on the hand. This makes it extremely difficult to present them in a clear and concise manner in drawings, which eliminates the possibility of using alphabets when communicating with people who are not accustomed to interacting with deafblind people.
How was the alphabet created?
It was inspired by the work of Grzegorz Kozłowski, who began working on the glove in the 1980s. During the first rehabilitation camps for deafblind people, and then thanks to the efforts of the Society for the Deafblind (TPG), the arrangement of letters and signs was refined and tested in detail.
The Polish tactile alphabet is based on this experience and on historical solutions, such as the alphabet of Sister Emanuela Jezierska (a Franciscan nun from Laski near Warsaw), which was created out of the need to work with the first deafblind student at the facility.
Later, it was refined on the basis of other tactile alphabet systems, primarily Lorme’s alphabet and alphabets created for other languages.
Who is this alphabet for?
For deafblind people – to regain agency and control over the situation.
For those who can see and hear – so that they are not afraid of the first word.
For institutions – to create genuine accessibility, not just on paper.
Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- A brief overview of methods of communication with deafblind people
- The history of the Polish Braille Alphabet
- The alphabet in theory
- The alphabet in practice
- How to make your own glove?
- The future of the alphabet
- Acknowledgements and contacts
A word of introduction
‘Access to communication is a human right, and it is also a natural need that people want to satisfy.’
This may sound trivial, and for some of us it may even seem ‘obvious,’ but for people with visual and/or hearing impairments, this is not the case.
There are many reasons for this. The most important and fundamental one is that we perceive sound messages through our hearing and visual messages through our sight.
When these senses are impaired, these messages reach us with difficulty or not at all. It is necessary to use alternative means and methods of communication, primarily assistive and supportive technologies.
And this is where another reason for the marginalisation and exclusion of people with sensory disabilities, including deafblind people in particular, comes in. It is a lack of social awareness, a lack of knowledge about the limitations these people face and how to overcome them.
There is also a lack of systemic solutions – appropriate regulations and organisational solutions, including institutional ones, that guarantee holistic accessibility of communication.
There are also many other, more mundane reasons, such as a lack of funds to cover the cost of specialists who mediate communication or the purchase of necessary hearing and vision assistance equipment.
The above-mentioned solutions enabling communication with deafblind people require those around them to be familiar with communication methods or to obtain funds for the purchase of equipment, which is usually not inexpensive.
However, there is a solution that does not have these drawbacks. It is the Polish Braille Alphabet, which was developed in the 1980s. This solution is very simple, universal, convenient and effective. It requires nothing more from a sighted and hearing person than knowledge of writing – a deafblind person must learn this method of communication, but they will learn it faster than other methods of communication mentioned above.
How does it work? How did the Polish Braille Alphabet come about? Why is it so effective? Why is the arrangement of letters this way and not another? How to make your own personal
glove?
You will find out all this in this publication.
We guarantee that thanks to this method, communication with a deafblind person will become easy, enjoyable and effective.
Grzegorz Kozłowski
deafblind author
of the Polish Point Alphabet
A brief overview of methods of communicating with deafblind people
Deafblindness is a specific type of combined disability that affects between 0.2% and 2% of the population.
In Poland, the exact number is unknown because there is no separate disability category for people with simultaneous visual and hearing impairments
Due to changing lifestyles and an ageing demographic structure, the number of deafblind people is expected to increase.
Second Global Report on the
Situation of Persons with DeafblindnessIn Europe, this figure
reaches approximately 2.5 million.
It is estimated that approximately 90% of information from the environment is obtained through sight, and 8% through hearing.
In the case of simultaneous damage to these two senses, it is impossible to compensate for the lack of vision with hearing, as is the case with blind people, and in the case of deaf people, the opposite is true – i.e. the lack of hearing cannot be compensated for by sight.
Therefore, deafblindness cannot be treated as a simple sum of these two disabilities, as it creates additional problems that are unknown to separate visual or hearing impairments.
Some people are born with this disability, while others begin to lose their sight and hearing later in life. This means that there is no single set of solutions or communication tools that would work for everyone.
Some deafblind people use an individual set of communication methods – therefore, any form of support must be flexible, accessible and personalised.
The problem of lack of access to communication causes social isolation (Hersh, 2013; Jaiswal et al., 2020). Alternative methods of communication for deafblind people can be a solution to this problem.
Deafblind people largely use or adapt to their circumstances the communication methods used by able-bodied, deaf and/or blind people.
Various types of alphabets or communication technologies require knowledge of the language used by those around them, even if a person’s first language is sign language.
Deafblind people often use technological aids (hearing aids, hearing implants, induction loops), computers, smartphones, know and use sign language, and read lips. These methods have been adopted from the hearing-impaired and deaf/deafblind communities
.
From the visually impaired and blind, deafblind people have adopted solutions such as the use of audio description, the use of computer programmes that convert text into speech, and the use of special glasses, magnifying glasses and/or other optical devices that improve vision.
Various types of haptic methods, i.e. those based on touch, are also important. These often become crucial when the ability to use sight and hearing is
minimal or non-existent.
Examples of such methods include tracing letters on the palm of the hand, the Lorm alphabet, dactylography (the finger alphabet used by deaf people), Braille (printed or palm-based) and other forms of conveying information through direct physical contact, such as tapping, guiding along shapes or rhythmic signals. Haptic methods are particularly valuable in one-to-one interactions because they do not require technology, are quick to learn and enable real communication even in difficult conditions, such as noise, darkness or unfamiliar surroundings.
The history of the Polish Braille Alphabet
WHAT CAN AN ALPHABET ON A GLOVE CHANGE?
Thanks to its simplicity, the alphabet glove is an incredibly versatile tool that allows for equal communication without asking for help, without translation, without barriers.
In a crowded and noisy place, in an office, in a shop – a glove with an alphabet enables tactile communication with someone who has never had contact with people with hearing and/or visual impairments before.
Most popular and functional tactile alphabets are not based on dots, but on a whole system of signs, lines and circles drawn on the hand.
This makes it extremely difficult to present them in a clear and concise manner in drawings, which eliminates the possibility of using alphabets when communicating with people who are not accustomed to interacting with people with visual and hearing impairments.
THE BEGINNINGS OF WORK ON THE ALPHABET
The inspiration came from the work of Grzegorz Kozłowski, who began working on the glove in the 1980s. During the first rehabilitation camps for deafblind people,
and then thanks to the efforts of the Society for the Deafblind (TPG), the arrangement of letters and signs was refined and tested in detail.
The Polish tactile alphabet is based on this experience and on historical solutions, such as the alphabet of Sister Emanuela Jezierska (a Franciscan nun from Laski near Warsaw),
which was created out of the need to work with the first deafblind student at the facility.
Later, it was refined on the basis of other tactile alphabet systems — primarily Lorme’s alphabet and alphabets created for other languages.
DID YOU KNOW…
Reports from organisations such as WFDB and SENSE UK emphasise that the biggest communication barrier for deafblind people is not technical issues, but a lack of knowledge and courage in society.
A simple item such as this glove is a very easy and virtually cost-free solution.
Alfabet w teorii
GENERAL RULES
Communication using gloves is very
intuitive. The person needing such support
puts the glove on their hand, and the interlocutor sequentially
touches the marked letters, thus forming
individual words. Later, if the interlocutors are
familiar with the method, the speed of
communication can be improved by dragging a finger across the letters,
e.g. when writing the word ‘NO’.
CONVEYING EMOTIONS
Touch can also convey emotions.
By writing faster or slower, touching specific points more strongly
or more weakly, the interlocutor can
communicate nervousness, calmness, laughter, etc.
Touching the person you are talking to also forces
a better understanding of the messages. If
the conversation is highly emotional,
touching different parts of the interlocutors’ bodies,
hugging, holding hands, significantly support
the overall message.
PUNCTUATION
The alphabet used as a method of supporting communication does not require appropriate punctuation marks. When marked on a glove, they become a visual distraction for people who
are not proficient in this method. The use of punctuation marks can be an obstacle to understanding the essence of the message.
However, for people who are both deaf and blind, punctuation rules are more important because tactile alphabets and haptic methods become their primary means of communication.
SPACE
The basic sign is a space, which is touching the entire hand of the interlocutor, as if we wanted to give a light high five to a deafblind person.
It is worth noting that as the alphabet is learned, the need to use this sign disappears. As in phonetic languages, the interlocutor naturally pauses briefly before writing the next word.
YES/CORRECT
A double ‘high five’ means ‘yes/correct’. A deafblind person, having the appropriate situational context and guessing what word the interlocutor is writing, often adds it.
Then, if the addition is correct, instead of touching the subsequent letters that make up the word, you can simply tap their hand twice and start writing the next word.
NO/INCORRECT
Similarly, instead of writing ‘no/incorrect’, you can make a gesture of erasing. Just like erasing letters written on a blackboard.
CAPITAL LETTERS
During work on the alphabet, the issue of capitalisation as a sign of respect when writing proper names, etc., was also raised.
A method of marking them was proposed, although in practice even the author himself rarely uses it. For example, when writing the name ‘Marta’, you can draw a line with the side of your index finger, from the base of the finger to the tip, and then touch the letter M.
People for whom the alphabet is an auxiliary method often do not feel the need to use commas, full stops, etc. All these signs are conveyed ‘by feel’, similar to phonetic speech. However, when the interlocutor writes at length and correct punctuation becomes more important for understanding the message, it is worth using it. It is also worth remembering punctuation
when potentially using this alphabet in the education of deafblind people.
TYPES OF POINTS ON THE HAND
ALPHABET DIVIDED INTO CATEGORIES
The alphabet in practice
REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS
You are at the station. It is noisy. You do not know if the approaching train is yours.
Instead of asking out loud, you hold out your hand and ask:
‘Could you write on my hand where this train is going?’
A group meeting. It is noisy, several people are talking at once. You lose track of the conversation.
Someone touches your hand and starts writing:
‘We are discussing the trip plan. When it gets quieter, I will summarise everything for you and you will have time to express your opinion.’
PHRASES WORTH KNOWING Touch the points in the order indicated by the arrows.
WHAT DO PEOPLE WHO ALREADY KNOW THE ALPHABET SAY?
“When my youngest daughter was 5 years old, she became terribly ill and I couldn’t understand her at all. She learned to write on her glove faster than she learned to read or write at school.”
Grzegorz Kozłowski
‘Thanks to the glove, conversation became possible in a second.’
Bogusława Żywna
‘My assistant did not know the Lorme alphabet, but he learned how to use the glove in no time at all when we were travelling to a conference in Katowice.’
Bogusława Żywna
‘This is a solution that perfectly complements any situation where I need to talk to someone but don’t have the right conditions to do so.’
Krzysztof Wostal
Jak zrobić własną rękawiczkę?
STEP 1: GATHER THE MATERIALS
The great advantage of the tactile alphabet for the hand is that it is almost free to make and everyone can have a glove that fits their hand perfectly.
STEP 2: APPLY THE LETTERS
Apply the letters to the glove according to the diagram shown. If your eyesight is not good enough, ask someone for help. Precision in applying the letters to the glove is quite important to avoid mistakes in sending and understanding messages.
It is best to write the letters with the glove on your hand. This will make their placement more precise and avoid situations where the shape of your hand distorts the appearance of the letters.
Since most of the population is right-handed, the diagrams show the arrangement of letters on the inside of the left hand. However, if this is not convenient for you, you can apply the letters to the outside of your hand or change hands.
To ensure the best legibility:
- It is best to use CAPITAL letters.
- Try to write the letters in the same size. Choose a size so that the letters do not overlap and there is space between each point. This will minimise the risk of
- mistakes when using the glove.
- Take particular care to mark letters that may look similar if written carelessly. For example, O, C, G.
WHAT SHOULD YOU PAY ATTENTION TO?
- COLOUR
Choose colours that suit you. In our experience, it is best to choose colours that contrast well with each other. For example, a white glove and a black marker. But the possibilities are endless. If you want, you can make several different colour versions.
- SIZE
Choose a glove in the right size for you. A glove that is too small may simply be uncomfortable, and one that is too large may slip on your hand during use, wrinkle, etc.
- MATERIAL
It is best to choose a cotton glove or one made of another breathable material. Choose a material that is not too thick. This will give you a better feel for the pressure points.
The future of the alphabet
The alphabet is very simple and, in its basic version, does not include Polish characters.
This means that it can be easily adapted to all other languages based on the Latin alphabet.
A big advantage of the alphabet is the fact that it is point-based.
It is possible to combine letters into words by ‘dragging’ your finger, but this is only a convenience to speed up communication.
Because it is not a necessity, it is easy to adapt the layout of the letters to your hand, add special characters and letters specific to individual languages.
What is more, Polish deafblind engineer Przemysław Nastaj is also beginning work on the potential development of a robotic glove that could be connected to a computer or telephone (wired or wireless, e.g. via Bluetooth).
Acknowledgements and contacts
AUTHOR
This work was created for the purposes of a master’s thesis entitled ‘Communication with deafblind people’, written at the University of Wrocław.
Agnieszka Kozłowska – aga.kozlowska00@gmail.com
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Anna Rózga – anna.m.rozga@gmail.com
SUBSTANTIVE SUPPORT
Polish Foundation for the Hard of Hearing
website www.pfos.org.pl
email biuro@pfos.org.pl
Grzegorz Kozłowski – grzegorz.kozlowski@pfos.org.pl
Anna Nawrot – anna.nawrot@pfos.org.pl
ACADEMIC SUPPORT
Karolina Lachowska – karolina.lachowska@uwr.edu.pl
and the team of lecturers teaching Communication Design as part of the Image Communication programme at the Faculty of Social Communication and Media Studies, University of Wrocław.
