Low-Tech Devices Can Help as Much as the Dazzlers

Nelson Hinman, who has been blind since birth, has long been dazzled by high-technology aids for the blind.

Yet Hinman also admires a handy, but definitely simple, device that has been around for centuries: an abacus. A specially made, hand-held abacus, with little rubber stoppers to keep the beads in place, makes recording a telephone number or any other figure a cinch, says Hinman.

“There are whole series of products for the blind that are simple-minded,” Hinman said. “People use them all the time.”

Long before the first computer chip was introduced, the blind relied--and still do for the most part--on a wide array of ingenious gadgets and products that allow them to complete tasks those individuals with sight would never think twice about.

Many Items Rely on Touch

“It’s my opinion that the low-tech items are of greater value to a larger number of blind people,” said W. Harold Bleakley, president of Aids Unlimited Inc., which distributes a catalogue filled with products for blind and other disabled individuals.

Bleakley cite an aluminum measuring cup carried in his catalogue. The cup has ridges at quarter-cup intervals so a blind individual can tell by touch how much has been poured. “They just pour it to the proper ridge,” Bleakley said. “That’s not high tech at all.”

In fact, about a dozen catalogues--distributed in print and on tape cassette--such as Bleakley’s are the major sources of products made with the blind in mind. “Blind and deaf people all have a problem in common--a shopping problem,” Bleakley said. “We’re going after that kind of market.”

Many of the items incorporate Braille, the raised series of dots that symbolize letters and words to the blind. Braille garment markers tell the blind what color blouse or shirt they are holding. By flipping open the glass lid on an A. Reymond Swiss-made watch, the blind can read the time by the Braille dots at each hour. There are also Braille rulers.

Those who love games can buy Braille playing cards and Braille versions of Monopoly and Scrabble. Blind children can chase after playground balls that have bells. And a portable aluminum banister serves as a guide for blind bowlers.