r/Blind • u/Humanoid_Entitys • 7d ago
Question Can normal card be used with a perkins brailler / slate?
Just wondering if standard card you can buy in shops would work with braille slates and a perkins brailler
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u/Triskelion13 6d ago
Yes. I had an audio book once that was in a rather thick cardboard cd case, and I was able to braille the numbers on the case. Same thing with Yu-Gi-oh playing cards. Wouldn't work for thick plastic obviously, but most paper seems fine.
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u/Average_Coffee_Joe 6d ago
You can braille on most paper, but depending on the paper your braille may not hold up as nicely. You can braille standard printer paper but the dots can get flattened pretty easy. Great for practicing but not good for keeping notes long term.
I live and die by my sticky notes at work. I figured out that if you take a pad of sticky notes, turn it 180 degrees and fold the top note down you can easily use a slate to braille on it. Great for little reminders for the week.
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u/gammaChallenger 5d ago
Maybe but I would think index cards are probably pretty thin but maybe greeting cards are okay like the holiday ones or cards you would send to people
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u/Superfreq2 7d ago edited 7d ago
Absolutely. Standard thickness index cards in particular are basically the same thing as Braille paper. If you get a smaller card (3 by 5 or 4 by 6) you may have to really finagle the Braille Writer's rollers if you want to use most of the card's available space, and it can be difficult to keep the lines straight if you do that. You'll need to make sure it's jammed right up against the left margin the whole time, but without being pushed against it so tightly that it starts to crease. Adjusting your right margin to make sure you don't overshoot the end is also helpful.
With the slate it will be easier to cover more of the card, but unless you have one of those slates sized specifically for an index card, it will only lock in on one side, so you'll need to be careful not to let it slip and become angled on the top and bottom edge if you want to keep your lines straight. I usually use my fingers to make sure of that, but you could probably also tape it to the edges of the slate or something if needed.
In both cases, you'll need to plan your spacing out carefully if you don't want to break up words between lines, and I suggest doing a test run with dots or Braille cells so that you get a good idea of how many characters you can use. That way, you'll know that your message will fit.
The 5 by 8 cards are my favorite size for Brailling, but I understand that those aren't good for all applications.
Good luck!