Linda You're right -- a BrailleNote with a QWERTY keyboard and Braille display could serve as a communication device for a deafblind person. I've heard of several deafblind people who use their BNs in this way. The deafblind person types on the BrailleNote's QWERTY keyboard and the sighted-hearing person can "hear" what was typed by listening to the speech output. Conversely, a sighted-hearing person can communicate with a deafblind person by typing on the BrailleNote while the deafblind person reads this information on the Braille display. (Unfortunately, I can't do this since my BrailleNote has a Braille keyboard.)
There are several devices that can be used as communication devices between a deafblind person and sighted-hearing or blind person. TeleBraille. (discontinued) The TeleBraille is a TTY with a Braille display. It has a "face to face" mode in which a deafblind and sighted-hearing person can communicate back and forth...the deafblind person typing on the Braille keyboard and reading the Braille display -- and the sighted-hearing person typing on the TTY keyboard and reading the print display. Tellatouch. (discontinued) This device looked very similar to a typewriter. It had typewriter style keys on one side and a single Braille cell on the other. When a key was depressed, that particular letter appeared in Braille on the single cell display. The Tellatouch also had a flip cover, shoulder strap and was manufactured by the American Printing House. There are other devices currently on the market but they cost twice as much as a BrailleNote. Lisa ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Braillenote List" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 2:29 PM Subject: RE: [Braillenote] waterproof the BN Yes, I just realized why a braille note with speech would be handy for a deafblind person. There used to be something which I think was called a teletype, and I think that it was a querty keyboard with a braille display, and I believe the way it worked was that, both sighted and blind people would type what they wanted to say, and the blind person would read the braille. Now for any of you who know about this gadget, did it have a screen so that the sighted person could see what the blind person was typing? If so, what would happen if a deafblind person, and another blind person who could hear, but didn't use braille, were trying to communicate? So here's where braille note with speech, and probably the qwerty board would be so handy. Am I right in my thinking? By is the teletype still around, or has it gone the way of the dodo bird? Linda. ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
