Yee Hah!! This completes 31 Days of Braille! Here are all the posts for the month in one convenient place! I appreciated the contact from other folks relating to braille, and hope that by talking about it more, sharing ideas with employers, school administrators and clients, we can increase braille literacy!
Posted on January 30, 2018 by
Braille Training at no Cost How many times has the Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired been mentioned during the last 30 days? Hadley offers a correspondence course for individuals who are blind or visually impaired at no … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 29, 2018 by
Braille Can Be Fun! Not a braille reader myself, I never had any idea that reading braille could be done at the same speed or grace as reading print. As a low vision print reader, however, I am accustomed, at … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 28, 2018 by
The Holy Grail of Braille The phrase, “Holy Grail” of Braille was coined by a research team at University of Michigan School of Information and references at least two aspects of braille technology–the anticipated development of a tablet size braille … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 27, 2018 by
BrailleBlaster Converts Text to Braille Code Braille transcription software is not anything new, but it has been expensive in the past, Transcription software allows users to quickly convert a text document into braille code. It is very handy for educators, … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 26, 2018 by
Braille is Everywhere Thanks, in large part, to companies like Apple, who made a serious commitment to accessibility years ago as they developed the iOS products, braille is everywhere! Dig into the accessibility features on your iPhone, Android phone or … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 25, 2018 by
Braille With the iPad Wheneve I hear someone talk about braille being less relevant today, or that new technology will be the demise of braille, I think about how well many braille displays work with an iPad or iPhone, Android … Continue reading ?
Posted in Low Vision Tech Blog, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged #31DaysofBraille, Gayle Yarnall, iPad, Perkins, refreshable braille | Leave a comment
Posted on January 24, 2018 by
Braille Music Notation Musical notation is rendered in braille code, in the same manner that it is rendered in print, for musicians who access it visually. Braille musical notation can be printed on paper, or read on an electronic refreshable … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 23, 2018 by
How to Learn Braille If you have a school age child, braille can be taught in school with a Teacher for the Visually Impaired (TVI) coordinated through the school. As an adult learner you may have several options. One of … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 22, 2018 by
NBP “Touch of Genius” Competition The National Braille Pres (NBP) Touch of Genius Prize has been extended this year to January 31, 2018. Each year $20,000 dollars is awarded for a braille or tactile-related innovation. The competition is not limited … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 21, 2018 by
Braille: Improving Career Options Kenra Farrow, Research and Training Associate at The National Research & Training Center on Blindness & Low Vision, sent the following link and reported this was one of her favorite articles on learning braille at a later … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 20, 2018 by
Learning Braille Later Neva Fairchild, National Independent Living Associate for the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), documents her journey with braille, which started later in life. As a student with low vision, it is clear, in retrospect to see … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 19, 2018 by
To Braille or Not? Didn’t We Cover This Already? Lunch with friends and a discussion about braille in their lives… MS, just on the other side of 60, who likes his Thai food spicy, learned braille in public school during … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 18, 2018 by
Luis Perez on Braille On a recent episode of the AT Banter podcast, Luis Perez, universal design advocate spoke about the value of braille. As with all their podcast interviews, this one was informative about the direction universal design was … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 17, 2018 by
Navajo Language Braille Code A teacher for the visually impaired (TVI) in New Mexico developed a braille code for the Navajo language. In a recent article in the local newspaper, the teacher Carol Green was interviewed about her braille code, … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 16, 2018 by
Tech Increases Braille Availability This article about the recent anniversary of the National Braille Press highlights both the decline in braille literacy and the increasing importance and access to braille in the digital age. At some point in the video, … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 15, 2018 by
Braille is for Students With Sight Too It might be easy to assume that a student with low vision, that is, a student who can see text in some way, is not a candidate for braille. A student who can … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 14, 2018 by
Early Lending Libraries for Blind Patrons The Pratt-Smoot Act of 1931 provided that the Library of Congress would be provided $100,000 for fiscal year 1932 to provide services for blind adults, and the National Library Service (NLS) began. Although we … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 13, 2018 by
Braillex: First Refreshable Braille Display In 1975, Papenmeier Reha Technology produced the first commercial refreshable braille display, the Braillex. Research on the Braillex began several years earlier in a program with Prof. Dr. Werner Boldt of Dortmund University. The original … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 12, 2018 by
Braille Game Award Winner One of this year’s winners of the “Not Impossible” Award at the Consumer Electronics Show 2018 was a game to teach young children some simple words in braille. BecDot was created by Jake Lacourse, the father … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 11, 2018 by
Refreshable Braille and National Library Service (NLS) In August a pilot program was announced with Perkins Library and National Library Services (NLS) to test the new Orbit Reader 20 with a group of 100 patrons. With a refreshable braille display, … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 10, 2018 by
In a recent VisionAware blog post about the misconceptions of braille, one of those pointed out was that braille is not a language of its own. Braille is a code comprised of dots in cells or groups of 6. A … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 9, 2018 by
Electronic Refreshable Braille Display Bonnie Gouzie, Director of the Access Technology and Employment Services (ATES pronounced At-Ease), at The Iris Network in Portland, Maine demonstrates a Focus 80, 80 cell braille display. This display is connected to a Windows 10 … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 8, 2018 by
Learning Braille as an Adult How do you learn braille as an adult? Why would you want to learn braille as an adult? I wonder to what degree adults with an acquired vision loss consider braille relevant? Many adults with … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 7, 2018 by
Why Read Print? In this digital age, when smart phones, tablets and computers can read text out loud, narrated books can be downloaded and played almost instantly, and broadcasting is at our fingertips, how important is learning to read print? … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 6, 2018 by
Braille in the Workplace If you are blind or visually impaired you are probably familiar with the unemployment statistics for individuals with a vision loss– over 70% are unemployed, and that number has changed very little in recent years. What … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 5, 2018 by
The Perkins Brailler If you are old enough to remember what a standard manual typewriter (not electric) looks like, or have seen one in an antiques store, the Perkins Brailler will look familiar to you. It looks much like an … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 4, 2018 by
Happy Birthday Louis Braille! This article was originally posted on The Iris Network website and the links have been updated: Happy 209th Birthday Louis! Louis Braille was born in a small town outside Paris, named Coupvray, on January 4, 1809. … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 3, 2018 by
To braille or not to braille… The controversy over braille literacy and the decline in braille usage since the 1950’s seems to center on whether the use of technology—specifically text-to-speech provided by screen reader software on computers, tablets and phones … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 2, 2018 by
Writing braille with a slate and stylus One of the simplest ways to write a quick note or label in braille is to use a slate and stylus, as demonstrated in the video, by Elise Tabor, an assistive technology (AT) … Continue reading ?
Posted on January 1, 2018 by
January is Braille Literacy Awareness Month. Last week, a doctor asked me what I did for a profession, and I replied, “I’m a vision rehabilitation therapist.” Yes, of course, I had to explain what that was. He immediately shared two … Continue reading ?
#31DaysofBraille. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions about #31DaysofBraille? Send an email to skelley4195 at yahoo.cm, tweet to @lowvisiontech, or leave a comment on the LowVisionTech Facebook Page.