What is Moon?
Moon is a system of raised shapes, which enables blind people of any age to read by touch. The characters are made up of raised lines and curves, similar to the print alphabet, to create a set of basic shapes. These shapes are rotated or reflected to create the 26 letters of the alphabet and additional dots create punctuation marks and the numeral sign. A blind English man, named Dr William Moon, devised the code.
When Dr Moon invented his system in 1845, braille - though invented 16 years before - had not reached this country from France and Moon was well established in Britain by the time braille was introduced widely. Moon has remained an indispensable alternative ever since.
As the characters are fairly large and over half the letters bear a strong resemblance to the print equivalent, Moon has been found particularly suitable for those who lose their sight later in life, or for people who may have a less keen sense of touch. Some children with additional physical and/or learning difficulties acquire some literacy skills through learning Moon. Being able to read a few words on signs and labels can greatly enhance independence, and for some it leads on to the development of further literacy skills.
There are many benefits to learning Moon and if you are thinking of learning Moon because you cannot get on with braille, you may be interested to know that learning Moon has given lots of people greater confidence in their sense of touch, and that many have gone on to learn braille successfully.
There are two grades of Moon. Grade 1 is a straightforward letter for letter translation from print and includes the alphabet, numbers and punctuation marks. Grade 2 uses some additional signs and an elementary form of shorthand, which reduces the size of Moon documents, and generally increases reading speed.
There are two ways of displaying Moon numbers for general note-taking or mathematics. The first way uses a numeral sign followed by the letters A to J, which stand for the digits 1-9 and 0. The second way uses the StaffsMaths Moon code, which uses a different set of symbols for numbers.
The Moon alphabet card shows the embossed Moon alphabet and some punctuation marks, together with the print translation. For copies please contact RNIB on telephone 0303 123 999 or email shop@rnib.org.uk
Why is the print alphabet not raised?
People often wonder why the print alphabet is not raised for use by touch. This was tried, however because of the complexity of printed letters, it was found that the raised letters had to be made very large to be felt properly. Slow reading speeds and very bulky books frustrated readers. Other people tried adaptations of printed letters before Dr Moon devised his system, but the comparative simplicity of Moon ensured its success, which has survived the test of time.
Moon literacy website
The Moon literacy website was launched in January 2006 and is an initiative of the Moon Forum. The website is an invaluable source of information for anyone with an interest in teaching, learning or producing Moon. This virtual Moon Base is a useful starting point for anyone interested in Moon.