A picture is said to be worth a thousand words.
But did you know you could create a totally accessible picture using a thousand stainless steel ball bearings?
Well, to be precise, you have access to 1,033 stainless steel ball bearings on the drawing side of the new BrailleDoodle.
Veteran teacher of blind and visually impaired students, and self-proclaimed artist, Daniel Lubiner, began experimenting with an idea during the pandemic. That idea has evolved into a fully realized product that is sure to be embraced by braille teachers, students of all ages, and anyone who enjoys making braille or tactile drawings that can be erased with a swipe of a magnetic stylus.
Meet the BrailleDoodle
The BrailleDoodle is a simple two-sided tablet. No batteries, no wires. Measuring about 9 inches by 12 inches and about an inch thick, one side is specifically designed for teaching braille, while the other side is for free-hand drawing.
The BrailleDoodle is an amazing combination of brilliance and simplicity. It’s so simple, in fact, that many teachers, upon first examination, will likely wonder why this device didn’t exist decades ago. On one side, it presents an engaging and intuitive method for teaching and learning braille. Flip it over, and you have a drawing surface that instantly produces touchable tactile images.
When you pick up the unit and prepare to draw, you'll hear the ball bearings clamor inside. Touch the pen-shaped stylus to a specific “dot” within a braille cell to bring that dot to the surface, or use the stylus to draw lines on the page, forming tactile lines with the ball bearings. The magnetic stylus pulls the desired ball bearings up, where they stay for tactile examination until pressed back into hiding.
As a Teaching Tool
Let’s talk about the braille teaching side. The top row consists of 16 braille cells, each formed by six pea-sized holes waiting to welcome dots. These 16 cells are divided into eight pairs. Under the first empty cell is a raised print letter "a"; under the second cell is the braille letter "a." The next pair features a raised print "b" under the first cell and a braille "b" under the second. This pattern repeats across the row, through the letter "h," with the alphabet continuing in this manner for subsequent rows, presenting letters, punctuation marks, and a few contractions.
Now, let’s go back to cell #1. Pick up the pen-shaped stylus, conveniently housed in a custom groove along the left edge of the BrailleDoodle and permanently attached via a stretchy tether. When placed over dot 1 in the empty cell above the raised print "a," the ball bearing easily pops up to represent the braille letter "a." In this cell, none of the other dots can be raised, ensuring the student reproduces the braille letter correctly. However, in the other cell of this pair, located above the braille letter "a," all six dots can be raised, providing another challenge.
The pattern repeats across the row. In the cell above the raised letter "b," only dots 1 and 2 can be surfaced. Above the print letter "c," only dots 1 and 4 can be lifted, and so on, with the second empty cell in each pair allowing the student to experiment with raising any or all of the six dots.
Lines of cells on the lower portion of the tablet invite creative spelling or the use of contractions, with the popular typing exercise about the quick red fox emblazoned in braille across the bottom row. The magnetic dots above it allow the student to copy it.
And for the Artist…
Turn the BrailleDoodle over, and you'll find a surface ready for drawing, free from the prescribed pattern of braille cells. Draw a house, a tree, or a road map of a route to be taken, using the pen to pull up any of the aforementioned 1,033 stainless steel ball bearings.
For drawing practice, the TouchPad Pro Foundation includes an assortment of stencils. Slide one of these into the guides on the right and left edges of the tablet and use the stylus to follow inside the lines to create a picture. Currently, stencils include a house, a tree, a flower, and some math components, with more planned for future releases.
When you’re finished with a drawing or braille practice session, or you just want to start over, use the pen like a rolling pin to "rub out" your letters or images, pushing the ball bearings back inside. It’s that easy.
The History of the BrailleDoodle’s Development
"Daniel Lubiner has taught students with disabilities for over 25 years. In the last five years of his career, he taught art to blind students in New York, working with various media, including wood, ceramics, clay, cardboard, and fabric." The BrailleDoodle emerged during the pandemic, first inspired by a similar product for sighted children that didn’t allow the beads to stay raised above the surface. With the BrailleDoodle, the dots stay in place for thorough tactile examination and only retract when "scrubbed out" by vigorously rolling the stylus over them.
Lubiner formed the TouchPad Pro Foundation as a nonprofit organization and now devotes all his time to it. He has assembled a board of men and women who support braille and alternate blindness techniques, some of whom are teachers themselves. He introduced the BrailleDoodle in July at the National Federation of the Blind convention in Orlando, Florida, and at this writing, he has already sold 570 units.
The TouchPad Pro Foundation has partnered with the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind for sales and distribution of the product.
Who Can Use the BrailleDoodle?
Daniel Lubiner created the BrailleDoodle with braille instruction and tactile drawing in mind. Teachers will undoubtedly embrace the product for teaching braille to children and adults of all ages. As a tool for presenting math and other STEM concepts, quickly illustrating an orientation and mobility route, or simply showing a blind person what an object looks like, the BrailleDoodle will be used in countless educational environments. However, at its affordable price, it is also likely to find its way into the hands of many blind individuals who just want to have fun with it!
The BrailleDoodle is priced at just $150. To purchase one for yourself, a friend, or to donate any number of them to children and adults learning braille or exploring their artistic talents, visit the TouchPad Pro Foundation at TouchPadProFoundation.org.
