Haplit is an interactive device that helps facilitate learning Braille. It is a rechargeable, handheld device that uses Bluetooth for wireless connection. Once connected to Haplit, Braille literacy is right at your fingertips through an incremental and responsive learning process.
Haplit was first conceptualized in the Fall of 2013 by Philip Bale. It was born out of a desire to further normalize educational opportunity. The project materialized and officially began in mid-December of 2014. In creating Haplit, we hope to provide visually impaired children with the same resources and opportunities that are afforded to their peers.
people live with visual impairment worldwide. That's roughly half of the US population.
of all visually impaired students in the US will end up not receiving a high school diploma.
of visually impaired students in the US are able to use Braille as their primary learning medium.
Braille illiterate people are unemployed—90% of Braille literate people are employed.
Research by the National Federation of the Blind has shown that there are over 7 million blind individuals here in the United States. Yet, only 10% of blind children in the US are currently learning Braille, 60% of blind students who cannot read Braille will drop out before high school graduation, and 2/3 of blind students who cannot read Braille will be left unemployed.
After the passage of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, thousands of children were moved from specialized blind schools to public schools. Due to costly training and a lack of qualified instructors, Braille literacy has steadily decreased since.
We developed Haplit to solve this extremely important issue and scale Braille literacy to a whole new spectrum.
The name of our product is derived from the idea of Haptic Literacy, or learning how to read through the sensation of touch. Haplit does just that--for Braille.
With Haplit, anyone with a smart device, regardless of previous experience, now has the ability to teach and learn Braille.
Haplit’s 10 Braille cells allow it to show any 10 letters, numbers, or punctuation at any given time. Essentially, what you type in or say to your smart device will instantly appear in Braille on Haplit, and what you write in Braille on Haplit will instantly appear on your smart device. A pagination feature allows a boundless amount of information to be consumed.
To address a lack of Braille material, we’ve created the Haplit app that provides courseware and games specifically designed to help anyone learn Braille. While other products target people who already know Braille, Haplit actually teaches it. These comparable devices cost thousands of dollars, yet we’ve carefully engineered Hapit to cost a tenth of the price of the competition.
We’re constantly making Haplit the best learning tool that it can be and we’ve engaged over 1000 people across the nation in Haplit’s progress. We’re speaking with Braille instructors from different corners of the country and have been in talks with retailers for the blind. Our hope for Haplit is to provide equal education opportunities for all stud across the nation and around the globe.
Please feel free to contact us about comments, suggestions, or questions
Philip Bale
182 6th Street Northwest
Atlanta, Georgia 30313
E : team@haplit.com
H : Mon-Fri: 9 AM to 5 PM
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