Braille Slate and Stylus

Independence in Daily Reading and Writing

Reading and writing are major aspects of daily life and independent living. The inability to communicate in writing with the rest of the world can significantly impact independent living. There is a device to aide people with visual impairments and blindness to write in Braille. It is called the Braille slate and stylus. This can help people with blindness and visual impIrments take control of their daily lives and meet their personal needs. The drawbacks of the Braille Slate and Stylus is that the user and reader both have to be fluent in Braille in order for it not to be very time consuming. The device would take a lot of practice in order to use it fluently.

A slate and stylus for Braille is an AT device created to allow people who are blind or visional impaired to write. The slate is usually two pieces of metal or plastic hinged together. The slate comes as a pocket size or desktop and the stylus is available in a variety of sizes and shapes to accommodate the variety of hand sizes. The user places a sheet of paper in the slate, then uses the stylus to punch a letter of the Braille alphabet into each square of the slate. When the message is complete then the user takes the paper out, turns it over and can read the Braille message.