Braillex: First Refreshable Braille Display
January is Braille Awareness Month in honor of Louis Braille’s birth day on January 4, 1809.
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 Braillex used a cassette tape for memory storage, and allowed users to input information using braille input, and read stored information on a braille display. According to Papenmeier’s history page (which includes a picture of the original Braillex), users found it easy to use and reported the information retrieval was fast.
For more on the history of refreshable braille displays check out Blindness History Basics: A Brief History of Refreshable Braille Displays.
Learn braille yourself: Hadley has several ways to learn braille—the Braille by Touch workshop series, and the Braille by Sight series. Registration is free. Call Hadley Help Desk at 800-323-4238 for more info.
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