Category: Braille

It occurred to me that this theme could benefit from a change in the point of view (no pun intended) closer to that of participant. While anyone can put on a blindfold, it is similarly possible to suffer from a power failure at night, with minimal (candle, flash) light available, or to be at a campsite at night in a remote location.

In these cases, mind maps are a way to making a changing scenario, like a puzzle persist and progress to its completion. Human nature being as it is, not many practice this technique when vision and light are plentiful, unless there is no alternative. It does offer another strong challenge to try to solve puzzles (like math problems, chess games) in your head. Blindfold Chess Tournaments have become a popular chess variation. The Math Forum at Drexel University has an archive of mental math techniques that compete or beat a calculator to the answer.

What’s the benefit? You become more portable and have less need for “stuff”.

For those in the United States, enjoy your Labor Day Weekend safely.

This weekend, my daughter fell off a ladder and broke her ankle in two places. The emergency room in the hospital awarded her a splint along with crutches. As a newly handicapped person, she is learning the ease and inconvenience of this method of transportation.

And so it is with low and no vision (which my mother suffered from). Braille seems to be the standard way of writing things down that is accessible to the visually impaired. This kinesthetic language was created in 1821 by Louis Braille for non-linear reading and writing. It is the first binary encoding of the characters of various languages. See Wikipedia for more information.

I thought it interesting to see how Sudoku puzzles could be adapted for use in Braille. Obviously a board is not the best medium for this. Paper or parchment may allow one-time use. There do exist refreshable Braille Displays, which can serve the same purpose as erasable white boards. Unfortunately, the current models are limited to 80 cells at a maximum and are expensive to buy.

I feel strongly, that the mind and the active senses are quite adaptable. I hope Sudoku arrives in the world of the blind to offer mental exercise and logical satisfaction. Consider this my push in that direction.