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.

One of the most exciting developments in refreshable braille display technology is the creation of market-viable multi-line braille displays. While single-line braille displays have been in production for many decades, multi-line displays have only become widely available in the past half-decade or so. Currently, several multi-line displays are available or soon to be released.

In this piece, I want to highlight three such displays: the Orbit Slate, the Canute 360, and the Monarch.

Plain braille page, blue toned.

Why We Should Question What We Have Been Led to Believe

“To know that one knows what one knows, and to know that one doesn't know what one doesn't know, there lies true wisdom.”
—Confucius

When we read a statistic about blindness or low vision in the news media, how often do we think about the source of that data? Does it come from a census? A survey? An estimate? How recent are the data behind the statistics?

Every year on January 4 we celebrate braille and the birthday of Louis Braille, the French teenager who invented it. (Learn more about Louis Braille’s life and the impact of his famous code in our online Louis Braille Museum, featuring photographs, engravings, and illustrations from books preserved in the American Foundation for the Blind's Archives and Rare Book Collection.)

Every January 4, we celebrate the birthday of Louis Braille, who developed his famous braille code when he was only a teenager. As an avid braille reader myself, I am proud of the American Foundation for the Blind's enduring commitment to fostering braille literacy throughout the 100 years of our existence.

As a means of consuming literature, learning, and communicating, braille has remained the biggest game changer in the history of inventions for people who are blind. It is only fitting then, that we celebrate the United Nations' recent resolution designating January 4 of every year as World Braille Day.

sample new Medicare card, with a randomly generated Medicare number for John Smith.

In September of this year, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) announced that redesigned cards will be issued to all Medicare recipients starting in April of 2018. This project is known as the Social Security Number Removal Initiative (SSNRI).

miniature portrait of Louis Braille

Every January 4, we celebrate the birthday of Louis Braille, who developed his famous braille code when he was only a teenager. Learn more about the creation of the braille code by exploring AFB's Louis Braille Online Museum.

The American Foundation for the Blind's recognition of the importance of braille has been a constant throughout the 95 years of our existence.

Helen Keller reading braille, October 1965

Helen Keller reading braille at her home in Westport, Connecticut. October 1965.

I am delighted that the fifth in our series of posts focusing on the Helen Keller Digitization Project is from Mara Mills New York University Associate Professor of Media, Culture and Communication. Mara’s post - on the continued importance of human transcribers - is fascinating and I encourage everyone to read it. Many thanks, Mara!