[blindkid] slate & stylus

[Bonnie Lucas]

When I was in about the 7th grade, someone brought some slates that had a
whole in the tips of the stylus and we were supposed to test them. I can
remember that all of us complained that the dots were a little muddy, as if
there was rubbed down Braille around 
Each letter. We didn't really like them. I really thought that would be the
best idea ever but never heard anymore about such slates. So, Leslie, does
it work well? Perhaps I should consider purchasing one from you. Can you
open the slate while you are wrioting to check and see what you were writing
when you have a "lapse of memory?" LOL. 
-----Original Message-----
From: Leslie Ligon [mailto:atfirstsight at ligondesign.com] 
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2011 4:29 PM
To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [blindkid] slate & stylus

Eric, thanks for letting us know your family's situation. You are right 
in your thinking - it's because you pushed to give the boys all they 
could get because we don't know the future - none of us does. I'm happy 
to hear the transition has been smoother than you'd expected. Ethan, 
much like Petras, is pretty independent, and an academically strong 
student. He will say he's lucky for the same reasons, and that he's just 
fine being blind; he doesn't feel like anything needs to be 'fixed.'

As for the slate and stylus, I ordered about 20 from RNIB that are a new 
style called a Braille King. The good thing about them is they don't 
have to be used backwards (right to left) because the styus is made with 
a hole in the tip so the paper is actually pushed down around a circle, 
instead of being pushed down in a full dome. Think about the way a 
plastic syringe looks without the needle in it. If you press it onto 
your skin, it makes a circle on your arm, not an indention.

It was a man who's blind, named Mr. King, who came up with the idea. The 
idea is great, and I think a lot more people would use that as a tool if 
they used one like this, so that when you want to make a dot 1, you do, 
in fact, press the paper in the dot 1 place on the slate, not the opposite.

The only problem I have with the one I've been carrying since I got them 
is that it's not metal, and therefore would probably not hold up as long.

I'll have them listed on the site, but until then, if you're interested, 
you can contact me off list. They're $25.00. (The only other US site 
that has them is Independent Living Aids, and they sell them for 
$32.00.) Ethan's braille teacher enjoys having hers, too!

Best,
Leslie