Feature Writer Alena Roberts – The Quest to Create a Low Cost Braille Display
Last week was Lewis Braille’s birthday. On that day, we celebrate what braille has done for the blind. Sadly though, even though braille is still celebrated, the braille literacy rate is only 12%, and it’s likely to get worse unless something changes. One of the reasons for the low braille literacy rate is the cost of producing braille on paper and in a digital format. If the cost of braille displays were at a level that blind consumers could afford them, it’s likely that the use of braille would increase. But now, the dream of a low cost braille display might actually come to be, thanks to a project by David Pankhurst.
According to David’s Indeogogo page, “The goal of this project is to make an open-source/open-hardware braille reader simpler, easy to build, well documented, and inexpensive so people anywhere can build it themselves or have it made locally.” He is currently working on the design for the braille display and hopes to have documentation and a prototype sometime early this year. If you’re interested in donating to the project, visit the Indiogog page: http://www.indiegogo.com/Open-Source-Braille-Display
David also has a great blog where he talks about the process of the project and why he’s decided to make the design the way it is. Many of the blog posts are very technical, but I think it will be very helpful to engineers who decide to participate in the project. To read his blog visit this link: http://www.utopiamechanicus.com/
It is my hope that this project is successful, and that one day I will be able to buy myself a braille display. As technology continues to improve, braille technology also needs to improve and become affordable. The braille displays currently on the market are out of reach for most blind Americans, but imagine how out of reach they are for people in the developing world. Any improvements would be a huge breakthrough.