Reading Braille out loud over the radio, a young blind woman assists the Allies in the Netflix series “All the Light We Cannot See.” The show inspired me to visit Saint-Malo on my journey through France for the Braille Bicentennial. The tourist office offers large print and Braille brochures, videos with French Sign Language, wheelchairs optimized for cobblestones, and a tactile map with a Braille key. Tactile maps are still rare, and I hope more cities take action to welcome people with disabilities.
Thank you to Laurence Maillard Nourrissier, accessibility coordinator for the Saint-Malo tourist office, for thoughtfully creating an “All the Light We Cannot See” tour of Saint-Malo! I also want to thank Joël Hardy, Christine Hardy, and Sylvie Thézé from the Braille Bicentennial team for their incredible Breton hospitality.
Descriptive Transcript
Standing outside with her hair swaying in the wind, Haben Girma speaks with enthusiasm, a microphone clipped to her gray coat. Below her stretches a road with cars and pedestrians, and in the distance appears a granite fortress on an island surrounded by the emerald La Manche, also called the English Channel.
Haben: Blind women rarely appear as the heroes in books and movies, which is why I was really charmed by “All the Light we Cannot See”—a book and a Netflix series. There is a blind woman who uses her voice and reads Braille to help the Allies during World War II. It’s a fictional story, but it’s actually inspired by many true stories.
Photo: Haben, her Seeing Eye dog Mylo, and Laurence stand on a balcony with the granite, fortress-style Château de Saint-Malo in the distance, surrounded by gardens and thick, granite walls.
Photo: Christine, Haben, Mylo, Sylvie, and Joël stand together smiling on the same balcony.
Video: Haben and Mylo walk along the ramparts above the old city. She has a brace on her left ankle. The ground has large, fitted granite slabs that are relatively smooth. Openings along the wall show glimpses of the Ferris wheel and boats below.
Haben (voiceover): The key scenes take place in Saint-Malo, a French city known for dramatic history, emerald beaches and the most delicious butter I’ve ever tasted!
Photo: A rectangular tray has a knife and eight cubes of butter in a variety of colors, from purple to pink.
Video: Haben sits at a table with a large paper, tactile map that includes Braille.
Haben: There’s a tactile map of Saint-Malo here. And many of the symbols on the map are almost universal, like a common understood texture for water, a tactile star to say you are here.
The video returns to the first scene.
Haben: I recently read the book called “And There Was Light.” Notice the similarities in titles? They are connected!
Photo: The book cover shows the profile of a young man with his hair in a side part pompadour, and the background rises from yellow to orange. The text reads, “And There was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Blind Hero of the French Resistance.”
Haben (voiceover): A resistance leader and Braille reader, Jacques Lusseyran helped liberate France from Nazi occupation.
The video returns to the first scene.
Haben: People assumed because he was blind that he wouldn’t be able to participate. But we all have a voice. We all can advocate.