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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law by President Bush on July 26, 1990. The first comprehensive act of its kind, the ADA guaranteed equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunication relay services.
This act included the laws and guidelines for producing ADA Signage.
Braille signage has been around long before the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. However the changes have greatly affected the creation and production of signs in our industry. This description does not cover all of the laws in producing ADA signage. Additional links to help you learn more are listed below.
Here are some basic requirements for producing ADA signage on the laser:
- A Braille translator is required. The alphabet, or characters you input are still the same. In the past, we used a letter-to-letter translation (i.e. typing "mother", output the characters "mother;). With Grade 2 compliant braille, you still use the same alphabet or characters, but the output is a series of contractions that from a shorthand version of braille. (i.e. typing in 'mother' translates to a contraction of "M ).
Duxbury sells a package call Braille Board. It is touted as a "light" and easy-to-use translator, designed for sign-making. Compatible with graphic layout programs such as CASmate, CorelDRAW, FlexiSign, Graphix Advantage, PageMaker, SignLab, etc. Language support is limited to English. Formatting facilities and other features of the full DBT are not provided. The result is a simple but indispensable tool for the production of ADA-compliant signs.
Note that this is for English only. If you need other languages, use Duxbury Translator.
After you start Braille Board, it runs in the background. In CorelDRAW, (or any other Windows program), type in the actual text that is to be translated. Then you hi-light it, and press Ctrl-C (copy) and then Ctrl-V (paste). Anything sent to the clipboard while Braille Board is running is translated. It returns ASCII text, which is in turn replaced with the font you are working with. Braille board also supports California spacing.
- A Braille font is required. All Braille alphabets are technically the same, and are used for both Grade 1 and Grade 2 signage. In Grade 1 to get the word mother, you would type m-o-t-h-e-r. In grade two you would type “-m. The contraction or translation comes from the Duxbury translation program. Also, the actual font is all lower case; there are no upper case letters in the font. To get robert you would type r-o-b-]-t and ROBERT would be ,-,- r-o-b-]-t. The front end commas tell you first letter and all following letters are capitalized.
There are many Windows fonts available, however you will need one that you can adjust the spacing.
When you get Braille Board, you also get Braille Build. It allows you to create a font to the size of the hole diameter you may require. With a little experimenting, you can have the holes the correct size without the contour function.
The Braille Board package is $595 plus $10 shipping. http://www.duxburysystems.com.
- Knowledge of the ADA requirements is a must. There are specific requirements for letter and line spacing, size and height of the dots in in the individual Braille cells, use of pictograms or symbols, finish and contrast of materials and much more.
- Raster Braille Dots. While you can create the raster dots on the laser, the Rasters method is preferred. ACCENT SIGNAGE SYSTEMS (800-215-9437) has the patent on using the beads. The retail cost is $1995. It includes the licensing agreement, a small tool for picking up the beads, a small supply of beads, and documentation. For more information go to their site at http://www.accentsignage.com.
Other Notes
- I strongly recommend get the book “Instruction Manual for Braille Transcribing” (ISBN 0-8444-0482-9). I found it on Amazon, or you can order directly from American Printing House For the Blind at 800-223-1839. Their catalog number is 7-59880-00, and price is $26.50.
- It will help you greatly in reading existing signs, and checking to make sure you’re on the right track. Had a customer that had the correct software setup, but his employee didn't know you had to translate. After reviewing the actual signs, he discovered he had been sending all the signs out in Grade 1.
Links To Other Sites With ADA Information
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