Many of you, particularly those of you who are braille users, are very familiar with Perkins Braillers. They have been relied on for writing braille since the 1950s. These handy machines have been the subject of some exciting conversations around ACB recently. If you were in the general session at the ACB convention on Thursday, July 13, you got a sneak preview of what's new with the Perkins Brailler from David Morgan, Perkins Howe Press' General Manager. For the benefit of all ACB members who may be interested, here are the details.
First, several models of the Perkins Brailler are now available in different colors. You can purchase them in either blue, gray or green! Second, Perkins is now selling a Light Touch model standard brailler, which is specifically constructed and tuned to reduce the force required to operate the braille keys by up to 40 percent. Light Touch electric braillers are also available; these are meant to allow braille to be embossed with minimal effort and for longer periods of time. Other models are available which allow for one-handed operation, or production of large cell or jumbo braille, which have cells with more space between the dots to make the dots easier to detect for people with reduced tactile sensitivity.
Howe Press, which markets Perkins Braillers, has generously offered a 10 percent discount to any ACB member who purchases any of their line of braillers. If you are interested, all you have to do is contact Howe Press and identify yourself as an ACB member. You can contact Howe Press by phone at 1-877-473-7546, or visit them online at www.perkinsstore.org.
Orders can be placed by phone or by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. If you send an e-mail containing your order and the fact that you are an ACB member, you also need to include your phone number so they can contact you to obtain billing and shipping information. For further information about the various models and pricing, visit www.perkinsstore.org, or call Howe Press at the phone number listed above.
We are pleased to be able to share this information with you and hope that it will make it possible for some of our members to access Perkins Braillers who might not be able to do so otherwise. Finally, speaking of access, be sure to read the "Here and There" column in this issue for details about how you can qualify for a chance to win an electric blue Light Touch Perkins Brailler. This opportunity is open to everyone, but only for a short time, so don't miss your chance!
Many thanks to Howe Press at Perkins for making all of these opportunities available to the blind community, and ACB members in particular. We appreciate all you have done to promote braille literacy and to assist those who use braille.