Launching Braille Forward: Social Impact Project for Tactile Literacy
Mountain Lakes Public Library Makerspace
(Image Description: Letter Farm Tiles spell out “BRL FWD” in white print on black background with yellow Braille. BRL stands for Braille in contracted Unified English Braille. 3D-printed Letter Farm Tiles are MLMakerspace’s original design.)
Launching Braille Forward
The Mountain Lakes Public Library Makerspace (MLMakerspace) and Tactile Literacy Advocate, Chi-Hoon Kim are thrilled to launch Braille Forward, our flagship Universal Design program. As an inclusive creative space that is a think tank, an idea incubator, and leader in community engagement, the MLMakerspace focuses on making the world more inclusive and accessible by developing foundational literacy resources with the low vision and blind community. We have co-collaborated with individuals with disabilities and many organizations like Clovernook Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired, St. Joseph’s School for the Blind, the University of Colorado, and Sound Start Babies to create high quality, low cost, and accessible 3D printed resources.
All of our resources are universally designed through co-collaboration processes that prioritize inclusion and accessibility from the start. For example, our Letter Farm tiles are designed with multi-access pathways, featuring large text, contrasting color, a simple outline, and Braille, providing literacy learning and games for everyone. We are especially proud of our partnership with Clovernook Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired that has produced Juniper and the Red Swoosh and the 3D-Click™ abacus. We are proud of our motto, “Show What is Possible” - Once we show what is possible, we can truly design a better world, together.
Our Braille Forward Mission:
Mission 1:
Normalize accurate and functional Braille in public spaces (schools, libraries, cultural institutions, and bookstores) to lower the barrier to achieve tactile literacy
Mission 2:
Educate and advocate for tactile literacy through interactive universal designed resources to make ‘learn by doing’ a reality
Mission 3:
Fund resource development to increase Braille and tactile literacy through co-collaboration
Why More Braille in Public Spaces?
The value of Braille in undeniable. It leads to literacy, independence, and inclusion.
We have research and data to prove the power of Braille.
We have policies and laws to promote Braille education and include Braille in public spaces.
Yet, the barriers to receive adequate training, acquire resources, and access Braille in public spaces remain high.
Why?
Because of the persistent cultural misconceptions that Braille is…
The last resort because my child or I am not that blind
Too hard to teach
Too hard to learn
Too expensive and too inconvenient to produce and acquire
Not worth investing in because childhood blindness is a low incident disability category.
Learning Braille should not be a privilege but as normalized as learning another language (although Braille is a code and NOT a language!).
What if we could overcome these objections by creating a Braille-rich public environment with high quality, affordable, and interactive 3D-printed Braille and tactile resources to fuel public engagement and community-building?
More exposure to fun and interactive Braille resources will lead to more people embracing and learning the Braille code. With more demand for Braille, we can recruit more teachers, secure funding, and develop more resources to support the next generation of Braille users!
Braille Forward is an initiative to de-stigmatize Braille as something “less than” by developing functional and foundational 3D-printed Braille literacy resources to support access and inclusion. Our Universal Designed products encapsulate the spirit “learning-by-doing” that invites collaboration, community-building, and mainstream integration.
To support our work, please consider a donation to Mountain Lakes Public Library (501(c)(3): venmo @@mountainlakes-library). For more information please visit MLMakerspace.
You can also contact via e-mail:
Ian Matty (ian.matty@mtnlakes.mainlib.org)
Chi-Hoon Kim (chi-hoon.kim@mtnlakes.mainlib.org)