Few products demonstrate assistive technology's strength's and limitions like the Mountbatten Brailler.
At first glance, the Mountbatten seems far more efficient than the ubiquitous Perkins Brailler. It's electronic, PC-enabled, remembers and reads aloud what's typed, and both prints text and embosses braille.
These features make the Mountbatten a great teaching tool. Audio feedback provides instant corrections; translation availability diminishes differences between print letters and the raised dots of braille.
Yet when students attain braille proficiency, they opt for portable note-takers and products such as the BraillePen that enable braille-based control of mobile devices, notably the iPhone.
Ultimately, the Mountbatten is technology as life support: it works well, but its advantages entangle in its own web of multi-pin serial cables.
Language is life. The best braille products simultaneously advance access while making the underlying technology recede.
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