Braille in Today’s World

Braille in Today's World

As technology has advanced, and physical books and papers have become less popular, the blind faced a new problem. If they couldn’t touch this new text, how were they supposed to read it? Audiobooks were one solution. It is similar to having someone read to them, but they don’t have to find someone who will. Dictation–text-to-speech–made it possible to type on smartphones and tablets without having to know where the keys are. Gracie Benedith-Cane, the mother of a partially blind child, created the brilliant idea of Braille labels for clothes. When her son, Wani, started dressing himself, it was difficult for him to do without help. So his mother created adhesive patches with directions to attach to his clothes. Wani says “the patches, they're adhesive and you could stick them to clothes. And it has directional cues such as back, left, and right. If the Braille's on the inside that means it's inside-out and if it's on the outside, then it means it's fine,” (Today.com). This makes it much easier for him to be independent.

Braille patches on socks from Today.com

Braille patches on shoes from Today.com