Connect Dots: In-Home Braille Tuition Services

Christmas is well and truly drawing nigh!!!!

If purchasing Christmas cards are still on your Christmas to-do list, consider a handmade, ‘come from the heart’, tactile, readable Christmas card for a visually impaired loved one this year, which is guaranteed to light up their face!

All you need to make a sweet and simple Christmas card are old tactile Christmas cards, any trinkets you would have discarded, a glue gun, pliers and a packet of blank cards.

For your front cover, you could either recycle an old tactile card OR remove anything Christmassy from an old tactile item, trim away unnecessary bits & pieces and paste it onto the blank cover. Choose strong contrast to make your card friendly for low vision and CVI (Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment) people. Rather than doing the whole picture tactile, just emphasise the main features of the item.

To write your message, you could use any writing mode that would work for the recipient, i.e., Braille, Large print, Braille labels or Braille over the Large print.

To Braille a message, follow the link below:

3 WAYS TO ADD BRAILLE TO A CARD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7HiI9hW7GQ

You will never know how much it means to a visually impaired person if you give them a handmade bespoke Christmas card!

Wishing you & yours a happy festive season!

Christmas is that very special time of the year when family and friends get together and share gifts.

Why not warm the heart of a visually impaired loved one this Christmas! Modify a regular pack of cards by simply adding a braille font, so all can join in and have fun.

Brailling a set of playing cards is an easy activity for beginner braille writers, using a Braille Label Maker or a special Playing Card Slate designed to create Braille Playing Cards. More confident writers could use a Brailler.

Here’s an example:
Braille each card in the top left corner, then flip the card and repeat the font in the opposite reverse corner. This would enable the player to read the card either way, regardless of which way it is held. See images below.

Instructions:
Use 2 cells per card, first the card number, then the suit. No Braille number signs are used.

Ace (1) = as ah ad ac
2 = bs bh bd bc
3 = cs ch cd cc
4 = ds dh dd dc
5 = es eh ed ec
6 = fs fh fd fc
7 = gs gh gd gc
8 = hs hh hd hc
9 = is ih id ic
10 = xs xh xd xc
Jack = js jh jd jc
Queen = qs qh qd qc
King = ks kh kd kc
Joker = jo

Now you’re good to go! Enjoy an inclusive game of cards this Christmas!

Braille reading tips for Beginners!

Warming your hands will increase the blood circulation in your fingers and improve your tactile sensation. For sighted people, it's like putting on reading glasses.

Warm hands are going to help you 'connect the braille dots' much easier when tracking.

During the cold winter months, I can’t think of a better way to warm my hands than wrapping it around my favourite hot drink - 'hug your mug!'

Other ways would be to hold your hands under warm running tap water for a minute or simply by rubbing your hands together to get the circulation going!

There are two schools of thought with regards to better identifying Braille dots. Some braille readers prefer thoroughly dry hands, whilst others would rather keep their hands moist with hand lotion. The latter may be useful during drier winter months.

Your choice!!

I'd love to hear your views and handy tips that help to improve the tactility in your fingers.