Braille printers are not new, but Ted Moallem’s Braille-It Labeler intends to break away from the norm by offering what is called “sightless construction.” Recently paraded at 2011’s A Better World by Design conference, this is one compact device that enables the blind as well as visually impaired group to print out adhesive labels in Braille. This is made possible courtesy of a basic six-button design layout that will be compatible with all Braille alphabets. The construction is pretty basic, using relatively common materials including aluminum and steel wire, and even better is the fact that the Braille-It can also be assembled by the blind themselves.
Moallem, who is a former MIT grad student, explains, “Blind people cannot depend on mainstream commercial forces to advance the cause of Braille literacy. Nearly two centuries after the invention of Braille by a blind adolescent boy, the most widely used Braille-writing tools, the slate and stylus, are quite similar to the tools used by Louis Braille himself. In the hands of the sighted, the low-cost Braille industry has stagnated.” Now this is what I call positive progress and empowerment.
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