Learning braille can be fun. |
What You Really Need To Know
Understanding braille
Braille is a tactile reading and writing system used by blind and visually impaired people who cannot access print materials. It uses raised dots to represent the letters of the print alphabet. It also includes symbols to represent punctuation, mathematics and scientific characters, music, computer notation and foreign languages(Read More From National Braille Week).
Who Uses braille
Braille is used mainly by people who are blind or deafblind. It is critically important to the lives of visually impaired people as the ability to read and write in Braille opens the door to literacy, intellectual freedom, equal opportunity, and personal security. Teachers, parents and others who are not visually impaired tend to read Braille by sight rather than by touch(National Braille Week).
Sight Loss In The UK
As of 2015, over two million people are living with sight loss in the UK. There are around 360,000 people registered as blind or partially sighted in the UK. It is predicted that by 2020 the number of people with sight loss will rise to over 2,250,000. By 2050, the number of people with sight loss in the UK will double to nearly four million(RNIB).
There are over 25,000 blind or partially sighted children aged 0-16 in the UK(RNIB).
There are over 25,000 blind or partially sighted children aged 0-16 in the UK(RNIB).
yangBrailler's Evolution
Since I started talking to people about yangBrailler, there is one question that I was often to be asked is 'why designing for visually impaired people'. I asked myself 'what is it I don't want to lose the most'. The first thing came out of my mind is my sight. I cannot imagine what it is like when I'm not able to see my family and friends' faces and their facial expressions, when I can't look through my photos, when I can't identify a person from looking at them, when I can't read the postcards from family and friends, when I'm unsure about surroundings, when I can only hear the sound but don't know the beauty of the fireworks, and so much more. All of the above are so important to everyone. As a sighted person, I want to help those people who aren't able to see and read to communicate with this wonderful world with my passion, experience and skills. When God closes a door, He opens a window. And I believe that there are a lot more people like me who would like to help the others.
Before I started this project, I did not know anything more than knowing braille exists. I was very curious about how braille works and I wanted to know more about it. After a series of research, I tried to learn braille myself and started working with Alan Thorpe, a qualified braille tutor and the owner of EYECAN which offers braille courses. Alan has been working with Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind for many years and he has read Braille for more than 30 years. With his expertise and experience, I understand the difficulties that visually impaired people are facing everyday.
Before I started this project, I did not know anything more than knowing braille exists. I was very curious about how braille works and I wanted to know more about it. After a series of research, I tried to learn braille myself and started working with Alan Thorpe, a qualified braille tutor and the owner of EYECAN which offers braille courses. Alan has been working with Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind for many years and he has read Braille for more than 30 years. With his expertise and experience, I understand the difficulties that visually impaired people are facing everyday.
Before yangBrailler, there were eight prototypes made for helping visually impaired children learn braille. To find out about the potential design concept, I gathered four five-year-old children together and they had a go with each prototypes. The result lead me to Brailler which is a more versatile and fun engaging product. So far, yangBrailler have been trialled with different age groups of braille users in Sheffield.