When we began in business 30 years ago, "Braille publishing" was an activity confined to huge commercial and charitable enterprises with enormous physical plants (and budgets).
Today, Braille embossers are now found everywhere as an increasing number of businesses, schools, and government agencies understand the importance of providing Braille for blind customers, clients, managers, and students.
Yet, during the same time as our entirely Braille-based business was growing exponentially, some began to insist that Braille was becoming obsolete. This now-discredited cliché is occasionally heard even today.
Braille was developed by (and is named for) Louis Braille, a teenaged blind student at the world's first school for the blind in Paris, France, in the 1820s. By the 1960s, Braille's very simplicity and flexibility came to seem somehow old-fashioned to many people. Other oft-heard contributing factors to Braille's "decline" were mainstreaming blind children in public schools, improved audio recording technology and, later, the popularity of computers.
By the 1990s, though, it became clear that Braille's constituency was expanding, in part because of computers. Many popular computer devices for the blind use Braille keyboards for keying in or Braille displays for reading out--or both. Computer-using Braille readers actually have more opportunity to hone their skills than ever before in history and are doing so enthusiastically, if our business is any indication.
Recent published studies have shown overwhelmingly what good Braille readers (and great teachers) already knew: That the educational and job opportunities of blind children who grow up without Braille are likely to be severely restricted throughout their entire lives. One well-known study found that blind people who acquired Braille skills early were more than twice as likely to grow up to be employed adults.
Today, depriving blind children of this vital skill has been widely recognized as a terrible error. Laws in many states now mandate teaching Braille to blind students in public schools. Often, concerned parents do not wait for educators to catch up, but make certain on their own that their blind children are learning Braille.
Adding two things to your existing computer system makes you ready to publish Braille in just a few minutes. Because Braille has its own rules for spelling, punctuation and formatting, you need translation software to change your computer's WordPerfect, Microsoft Word or just plain text files into new, separate Braille files. The translation process takes place in your computer's memory in less time than your favorite spellchecker would spend on the same document and is generally even easier to do. Then you connect a Braille embosser to one of your computer's printer ports, "print" the new translated files--and you've got Braille.
Here are a few basic concepts to help you choose Braille equipment:
Braille shortens many words and letter combinations using systems of rules called "grades." In grade 2 Braille (the most common), one page of most printed material equals two to three Braille pages. For example, once the phrase, "dark and stormy night" is translated, every word will have a space-saving contraction in it.
This is why Braille paper is so large (11 by 11.5 inches) and why Braille formatting makes such sparing use of "white space." A standard Braille paragraph indent is only two spaces, and generally, lines are not skipped between paragraphs.
The most popular Braille settings (40 characters across by 25 lines down the left margin with American English Braille) equal about 1,000 Braille characters on a page.
Conserving paper--and space--is why interpoint (double-sided) embossers have become so popular. "Interpoint" means that Braille is embossed on both sides of every sheet of paper at the same time, automatically aligned so that both front and back are readable.
There are no photocopy machines for Braille (in most places, anyway). Thus, Braille embossers are very ruggedly built, especially when compared to more conventional office equipment. They have to be, since they're designed to punch thousands of perfect dots per sheet into heavy paper.
As a general rule, if you find you are using your embosser regularly more than five hours a day, you may find it prudent to consider a larger one. Even the most faithful embossers do come home to Florida for occasional maintenance, so two smaller machines are another good strategy to insure continuity.
Even though standard Braille paper is very heavy (about like manila folders), it's perfectly possible to Braille on ordinary computer paper. Just turn down the embosser's punching power with the impact control, standard on many of our embossers. The Braille will not be as durable on regular paper as on Braille paper, but that might not always be important.
Braille on cassette and diskette labels has become commonplace today, and usually an embosser put it there. Our Single Sheet Tractors help you Braille the labels found in any office supply store, which is also a good source for other supplies to bind your finished Braille pages. A regular or heavy-duty stapler works well for shorter documents. Bigger documents (or ones with a long anticipated life) do better with the durable plastic spiral comb binding systems originally intended for print documents.
However you publish your Braille documents, your blind customers, students, employees, and friends are likely to be impressed at your thoughtfulness. Producing Braille materials for them shows the same level of respect for their intelligence and judgment that you feel when someone presents you with a well-designed book that you anticipate reading with pleasure or a clear and accurate map that guides you safely on a trip. Having information you can refer to when you want to, at your choice of speed and pacing (and in a format you can also write yourself) makes any of us feel much more at home in the world.