Alternative to Braille Embossers

| tags: blind, ideas, enabling technology

Making a Braille embosser is really hard for CS types. We make software. So how can we use commodity devices and software to help children learn to read Braille? The method teachers use now is make a letter/feel a letter. The child writes by pressing the keys on the embosser and reads by feeling the result. The is comparable to sighted kids making the same letter over and over.

Could we turn that around? Perhaps we could use an Intellikeys keyboard or a cheap touch tablet with an embossed overlay. We could have an array of letters embossed on the overlay. In the software we know where the child is touching so we can say the letter being touched. Could we extend this to writing with some automatic guidance to help the child find the letters? The idea is for young children to have access to cheap and interesting Braille learning tools.