The braille system makes use of raised dots which are recognizable by touch. The tips of the fingers are moved across the dots from left to right in the same manner that an eye would scan a printed page. This system, created in 1824, enables those who are blind to read all of the same literature that sighted people read.

Conventional methods of producing braille material are simply not adequate to meet the needs of blind Filipino readers. Braille must be made available in larger quantities and in shorter production times than what is currently available.

Computer technology is providing the solution to this problem. By encoding the text into a computer file, and by using small, computer driven braille embossers, many copies can be quickly produced. What might have taken months to produce by hand before, can now be produced in minutes.

We are now using the latest technology in our Philippine Braille Technology Center to produce up to one million pages of braille per year.