The Next Generation Perkins Brailler

Fifty seven years after the original Perkins Brailler was introduced by Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, where both Helen Keller and Laura Bridgman studied, Perkins Products partnered with The American Printing House for the Blind and Product Development Technologies (PDT) to vastly improve this life-changing device for the individuals of all ages in over 170 countries that depend upon it.

Its name is the Next Generation.

"The collaboration between Perkins and PDT was absolutely instrumental in the success of this redesign and development effort," says David Morgan General Manager of Perkins Products.

The redesign process began with exhaustive international user research.

The teams spoke directly with those who know the brailler best from children in India who struggled with dirt and dust jamming the precious machine, to teachers for the blind in Malawi who had to pass the brailler around to students all day because they could only afford one per school, to senior citizens and students in the US who needed a lighter machine so they could carry it with them.

The development of the new brailler was uniquely challenging, given there were around six hundred parts.