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Braille sign in a public garden. The braille writing and reading system was devised by the French teacher Louis Braille (1809-1852), who himself was blinded at the age of three. It is a universally accepted system that enables blind people to have access to written language. It consists of a sequence of cells, each of which contains a pattern of raised dots that can be sensed by touch through the fingers. Different patterns of dots represent letters, numbers, punctuation marks and several short words. Photographed in Kirstenbosch Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/SHEILA TERRY)