Bringing Braille into the Computer Age: Carrying on the Torch

Recently this Writer received information from a local Center for the Blind concerning the present method of converting a book into Braille. The Staff of this particular Center for the Blind had converted a Biology text book into Braille. Nine books had been ordered. These nine books in Braille were intended to enable nine students to read along with sighted pupils in the same class. Each of the nine book orders of 43 volumes consisted of 3601 pages. Thermoform copies of each page had to be made. After they had been created they had to be punched and labeled. The nine orders were then shipped to the customer. The charges for the Order came to $763.20. To prepare each of the nine sets of 43 books took the volunteers from January 6, 2003 until February 26, 2003. This time did not take into account other work the Transcribers performed at home. Within the pages of this book one will find the following: 1. A revised simplified Braille and a Reverse Braille for transcribing Braille. Easy to learn and easy to use. 2. A proposal and design for a dynamic Reader where any book; textbook or other, can be loaded from a CD and read directly in the Revised Braille. 3. The fascinating Story of how the Louis Braille Code came to be written.