Monthly Archives: January 2018
Day 11: 31 Days of Braille
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
Day 10: 31 Days of Braille
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
Day 9: 31 Days of Braille
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
Day 8: 31 Days of Braille
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
31 Days of Braille: Day 7
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
Day 6: 31 Days of Braille
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
Day 5: 31 Days of Braille
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
31 Days of Braille: Day 3
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
Day 2: 31 Days of Braille
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