Wednesday, August 1, 2012

In Technologys Wake Braille and Mail

Louis Braille stamp, Czech Republic, 2009.

This 2009 stamp honoring Louis Braille's bicentenary underscores technology's effect on communication. Postal mail and braille have both lost ground to the immediacy of the iPhone, email, and the web. I get nostalgic for handwritten notes watching Downton Abbey, but can live without them. The braille code, on the other hand, is crucial to the education, self-sufficiency, and independence of blind people. Let's hope technology in development at National Braille Press and elsewhere help spread braille literacy, rather than replace it.


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