CHARITY
MONITOR
Braille e-reader that will
help reverse the decline in
blind literacy
Contributed by Ed Rogers, Founder & Director
A
low-cost Braille e-reader for blind
people is coming to market this
year, thanks to the backing of the
Information Technologists.
Bristol Braille has also been nominated
for a Charity Digital Leaders 100 Award
2016. To find out more visit:
www.digileaders100.com/vote/
“The support of Information Technologists
has been critical for getting the Canute to
Bristol Braille Technology is a Community where it is now. The grants were very
Interest Company whose mission is to
important for us as they came at just the
develop refreshable Braille that is
right time. But what has really made all
affordable for every blind child and adult, the difference for Canute has been the
anywhere in the world. Last year the
way the Company and Liverymen have
Information Technologists backed its
gone the extra mile to assist in many
project, Canute, for the second time. As a other ways, such as by introducing us to
result Bristol Braille were able to publicly other partners and funders.” Said Ed
unveil its latest prototype to a major
Rogers, Director of Bristol Braille
industry conference in California this
Technology CIC.
March.
Historically, many efforts to develop new
Braille technology have promised much
The Canute Mk8 (pictured right) - the
and delivered little. Some projects use
world's first affordable multiline
refreshable Braille device - was presented exotic materials and fail to produce a
working prototype, while others only
at the Annual International Technology
and Persons with Disabilities Conference aspire to deliver another single line
display. Canute, developed in a
in San Diego. The presentation was
entitled “How to make a Braille ereader”. community workshop in Bristol, uses
open source software and off the shelf
components to keep costs down.
Collaboration with the Braillists
community, on design and testing, makes
Canute’s development much more open
and inclusive compared with other efforts.
Canute’s multiline design means it will be
suitable for showing page layout, tables,
multipart music, computer code and other
types of technical content.
To learn more about Bristol Braille
Technology visit www.bristolbraille.co.uk
information which may have not been
accessible to them in the past.
Already eight blind and visually impaired
children have used the ipad-Pro and four
students have loaned the device before
buying ones for themselves.
A
Dan at Rothschild
s the Worshipful Company of
Information Technologists have
kindly funded hardware and
software for Blind in Business (BIB) over
many years I would like to thank the
WCIT Charity on their recent grant of
£800 which allowed BIB to purchase an
I-pad Pro. Such a device allows blind and
visually impaired children and adults to
use a mainstream device to access
Page 14
For many children they cannot afford
such devices to do their homework, they
may have struggled at home using pen
and paper or even a computer without the
right technology to help them see or read
what’s on a computer screen. With such a
mainstream device, children are able to
take photos of homework, increase the
size of the work, make changes, get the
device to read to them what’s on the
screen. Such advances in technology
mean that children with little or no sight
can compete equally with their sighted
peers.
We hope that another 13 children will
benefit from using the device within the
next few weeks. Peter, a blind 13 year old
is currently loaning the device to do his
homework.
An additional benefit was having Dan
Smith who is registered blind and works
at Rothschild. Dan needed to use an
I-pad at work to type notes at meetings,
this has been a great help and is much
easier than using a laptop. He used the
I-pad just last week and has now
purchased one himself.
Certainly many more school children will
benefit over the months ahead and we
can’t thank you, the kind donors to the
WCIT Charity, enough for this generous
funding.
Contributed by Dan Mitchell, Training Services, Blind In Business