215 Ways Braille is Useful

  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Drawing
  • Instilling others with a love of literacy
  • Learning to spell
  • Learning math
  • Building confidence
  • Building connections
  • Monopoly and other board games
  • UNO
  • Teaching others
  • Any card game
  • Memorizing choral works
  • Sudoku
  • Solitaire
  • Gives me a sense of pride 
  • Provides equity
  • Locating the right rooms in buildings
  • Making accessible versions of games like Pokemon
  • Tracking measurements for leatherworking projects
  • On rulers or meter sticks to measure anything
  • Journaling
  • Passing notes
  • Labeling Keurigs or other coffee-makers
  • Tracking financial information
  • Locating the right restroom
  • Reading the weekly NFL schedule
  • Diagramming football plays and other sports-related activities
  • Labeling spices
  • Writing letters
  • Crafting
  • Telling time
  • Starting conversations
  • Making to-do lists
  • Making holiday cards
  • Making birthday cards
  • Reading music
  • Writing music
  • Connecting with blind children and adults
  • Learning the alphabet
  • Making gift tags
  • Deciding which restaurant to go to
  • Reading restaurant menus
  • Identifying medication
  • Labeling pill schedulers/organizers
  • Identifying floors in an elevator
  • Identifying room numbers in places of public accommodation
  • Doing homework
  • Geometry
  • Cooking
  • Making accessible game controllers
  • Writing recipes
  • On measuring tools for cups, tablespoons, teaspoons
  • Making a to-do list
  • Creating complex maps and diagrams
  • Marking appliances
  • Reading knitting patterns
  • Doodling
  • Creatively decorating cookies and cakes
  • Marking off items on a to-do list
  • Creating handbags, tote bags, and souvenirs
  • Coding websites
  • Transcribing academic content
  • Learning different languages
  • Inventing secret codes all your own
  • Teaching others secret codes
  • Writing and using flashcards
  • To enable private transactions, such as with ATM’s
  • For Morse Code
  • Having read-along sessions with kids
  • Reading notes for public speaking
  • Writing notes for public speaking
  • Identifying key fobs
  • Identifying keys on a keyring
  • Labeling clothing to know what colors each article is
  • Staying organized
  • Labeling food items that come from the grocery store 
  • Maintaining an address book
  • Labeling credit cards and identification cards
  • Designing art installations
  • Creating cool bookmarks
  • Puzzle books
  • Creating Braille jewelry
  • Tactile tattoos
  • Laptop stickers
  • Cute coasters
  • Cup decorations
  • Smartphone apps
  • Phone and computer cases
  • Braille-inspired graphic designs
  • Device instructions
  • Inventory list
  • Accessible sculpture
  • Accessible plaques
  • Accessible business cards
  • Home décor
  • Fabric patterns for sewing and embroidery
  • Accessible coded aromatherapy labels
  • Tactile QR codes
  • Learning Braille through play, such as with Braille lego sets
  • Labeling toys and games
  • Web design
  • Provides employment opportunities
  • Nail art
  • Labeling books and binders
  • Embossed logos
  • Taking notes in school
  • Three-dimensional printing projects
  • Car and surfboard decals
  • Braille Rubiks cubes
  • Abstract art
  • Pets’ collars
  • Embroidery designs
  • Escape room clues
  • Crochet patterns
  • Teaching accessible design
  • Learning lines for plays or other theatrical works
  • Scavenger hunts
  • Accessible fortune cookies
  • Keychains
  • Origami
  • Cookie cutters
  • Embossed designs on clothing or leather
  • Painting Cadillacs
  • Graffiti
  • Accessible drink dispensers
  • Creative food presentations
  • Computer-programming
  • Keyboard labeling 
  • Writing reminders at home
  • Interpreting step charts for choreography
  • Laser-cut stencil designs
  • Crossword puzzles
  • Interactive learning apps for new Braille readers
  • Braille dice
  • Braille-themed cover art, such as for podcasts or tabletop role-playing games, 
  • Instructions on gardening kits
  • Home repair guides
  • Photography exhibitions
  • Fitness classes and routines
  • Science experiments
  • Furniture-building guides
  • Star charts
  • To learn astronomy
  • Virtual reality art galleries
  • Accessible Constitutions and other historical documents
  • Fortune-telling
  • Woodworking
  • To experience the differences in accessibility in different countries
  • Beauty tutorials and makeup guides
  • Architectural design charts
  • Tactile Rubik’s cubes
  • Accessible public transportation signs and routes
  • Creating ad campaign
  • Signs
  • Banners
  • Posters
  • Taking meeting minute notes
  • Reading a meeting agenda
  • Reviewing floor plans for construction
  • Celebrate literacy
  • Sending postcards
  • Accessible packaging
  • Sending texts
  • Reading and sending emails
  • Proofreading for style and grammar 
  • Writing reminders at work
  • Reading policies and forms needing to be signed
  • Reading school policies
  • Accessible calendar for the whole year
  • Reading employment handbooks
  • Balance finances
  • Organizing a schedule or agenda
  • Keeping storage boxes organized with labels
  • Accessible labeling for gifts 
  • 50/50 raffles for fundraising
  • Creating fun wall displays like the Braille message wall at the Jernigan Institute 
  • Expands our education
  • Provides opportunities
  • Accessible literature
  • Labeling workout equipment
  • Checklists
  • Creating planners 
  • Making credit/debit cards accessible
  • Roll call list
  • Labeling cards in a wallet
  • Making unique and creative wallpaper
  • Labeling craft supplies
  • Anatomical diagrams for biology
  • DNA molecule models
  • Labeling tactile models
  • Labeling components on a schematic diagram
  • Learning spelling as a result of repeated exposure to words under one’s fingers
  • Creating spelling lists when one realizes there are words they have  not actively incorporated into their spelling vocabulary
  • Labeling batteries 
  • Labeling pictures in a photo album
  • Labeling vinyl records, compact discs, and cassettes for rapid retrieval
  • Using computerized Braille devices 
  • Writing private documents 
  • Keeping a private diary
  • Writing a pros and cons list 
  • Delivering a speech from a manuscript 
  • Reading in the dark when parents have long since declared it bedtime
  • Writing information on cards so that the sequence can be varied as needed
  • Doing complex mathematics
  • Advent calendars
  • Decorating gingerbread houses
  • Braille calendars, such as those provided by the American Action Fund for Blind Children and adults
  • Decorating birdhouses and other yard decor
  • Becoming more creative
  • Labeling electronics with lots of buttons
  • Labeling large containers, such as those used for baking ingredients in bulk, or pets’ food
  • Labeling albums and DVDs
  • To comply with the ADA