Many people get braille displays and braille notetakers through
Rehab--particularly students and people seeking jobs.
As for me, I received my first one through work. Then, when I was laid off,
they offered it to me for one third its original price, so I bought it.
I saved money and bought the rest myself.
Braille displays are expensive, but they're worth every penny. My life has
been revolutionized because I can put lots of files in my PC and/or
BrailleNote and take them with me to read. I have several translations of
the Bible, a hymn book, plus books from web braille in my BN. Braille is an
enormous help when I use Duxbury or other programs to edit files. You can
even connect braille displays with cell phones and, if the display has a
keyboard, you can use its keyboard instead of the ones which are on the cell
phones. (I'm still working on connecting my BrailleWave with my Motorola
Q.) Of course, they're excellent for taking notes, amateur radio logs, ncs
check-ins, traffic and so on.
It wouldn't surprise me if paper braille was replaced with refreshable
braille, especially for textbooks. Both the BrailleNote and the
BrailleSense plus can handle Daisy books and, I think, RFB&D books and
Bookshare books. (I'm not sure if the BrailleSense will handle all of
these, but the BN will.)
I remember when I used to have to lug around volumes of braille for school
or church--no more!
As you can see, I'm a real braille fan!
Terri Amateur Radio call sign KF6CA.
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