Braille With the iPad
January is Braille Awareness Month in honor of Louis Braille’s Birthday, January 4, 1809.
Whenever 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 smartphone or tablet–even a Kindle Fire…right out of the box. Au contraire! In fact, it is this sort of technology that is contributing, I think, to a renewed relevance of braille, and providing greater access to braille material through refreshable braille displays.
In this video, Gayle Yarnall, at the time, Director of Adaptive Technology at Perkins Products, demonstrates how a braille display works with an iPad for reading, and demonstrates how it adds a greater level of access to the book she’s reading.
In the 13 years since this video was made, braille displays have gotten smaller and more pocket-sized, and affordable. We might consider using Voice Dream Reader or Dolphin Easy Reader as our text-to-speech book reader software, but you can see how much more accessible the addition of refreshable braille will make this technology.
For patrons of the National Library Service (NLS) Talking Books program, refreshable braille displays have become a reality, since nearly any patron may now request a digital refreshable braille display e-reader at no cost, for reading electronic braille material from the library.
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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