Yes, I understand that 180 degree turning of the braille display on a
braillemate wouldn't solve your problem. It was something I wanted in my
work with clients a dozen years ago. It was just part of the conversation
brainstorming what might work best for you.
When you consider communicating with the general public, remember that they
are not accustomed to doing so via keyboard of any kind be it qwerty or
ten-key. You are going to want it to be as simple and obvious as possible. A
bus driver doesn't have time for a learning curve. This is why I suggest a
qwerty notetaker you can hand to the sighted person with the display
remaining in your hands for you to read in Braille.
Humanware used to have a notetaker caller the Keynote Companion. Its nice
feature was a small visual display. This allowed sighted people to follow
along reading what they typed and what you typed. If it could have an
Infrared link to a small Braille display then you could communicate with
this. But as I understand it you are trying to blend this all with your cell
phone as well. Am I correct?
Let's give your problem to one of the design universities for their
development project in partnership with Humanware. Anyone willing?
