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89-570: The Bombardier Incentro AT6/5 is a 100% low floor tram used by Nottingham Express Transit (NET) in Nottingham , England. It is a variant of Bombardier Transportation 's Incentro design. Bombardier Incentro trams were designed and built by ADtranz for the Tramway de Nantes in 2000–2001, and the AT6/5 is almost identical but 3.4 metres shorter. In 2000 ADtranz signed a package deal for

178-400: A braille embosser (printer) or a refreshable braille display (screen). Braille has been extended to an 8-dot code , particularly for use with braille embossers and refreshable braille displays. In 8-dot braille the additional dots are added at the bottom of the cell, giving a matrix 4 dots high by 2 dots wide. The additional dots are given the numbers 7 (for the lower-left dot) and 8 (for

267-570: A slate and stylus , a braille writer , an electronic braille notetaker or with the use of a computer connected to a braille embosser . Braille is named after its creator, Louis Braille , a Frenchman who lost his sight as a result of a childhood accident. In 1824, at the age of fifteen, he developed the braille code based on the French alphabet as an improvement on night writing . He published his system, which subsequently included musical notation , in 1829. The second revision, published in 1837,

356-526: A word space . Dot configurations can be used to represent a letter, digit, punctuation mark, or even a word. Early braille education is crucial to literacy, education and employment among the blind. Despite the evolution of new technologies, including screen reader software that reads information aloud, braille provides blind people with access to spelling, punctuation and other aspects of written language less accessible through audio alone. While some have suggested that audio-based technologies will decrease

445-589: A "code of practice" for making train and stations accessible: "Accessible Train and Station Design for Disabled People: A Code of Practice". This code of practice was first published in 2002 with the objective of compliance to Section 71B of the Railways Act 1993, and revised after a public consultation period in 2008. Some transport companies have since improved the accessibility of their services, such as incorporating low-floor buses into their stock as standard. In August 2021, South Western Railway announced

534-644: A conceptual meaning with normal pedestrian access from a standard kerb (curb) height. However, the accessibility of a low-floor vehicle can also be utilised from slightly raising portions of kerb at bus stops , or through use of level boarding bus rapid transit stations or tram stops. The combination of access from a kerb was the technological development of the 1990s, as step-free interior layouts for buses had existed in some cases for decades, with entrance steps being introduced as chassis designs and overall height regulations changed. Low-floor buses may also be designed with special height adjustment controls that permit

623-490: A disability requires an adapted car for work use, the employee does not have to pay for a " reasonable adjustment " in the United Kingdom; if the employer is unable to pay the cost, assistance is offered by government programs. A significant development in transportation, and public transport in particular, to achieve accessibility, is the move to "low-floor" vehicles. In a low-floor vehicle, access to part or all of

712-459: A greater number of symbols. (See Gardner–Salinas braille codes .) Luxembourgish Braille has adopted eight-dot cells for general use; for example, accented letters take the unaccented versions plus dot 8. Braille was the first writing system with binary encoding . The system as devised by Braille consists of two parts: Within an individual cell, the dot positions are arranged in two columns of three positions. A raised dot can appear in any of

801-408: A home currently has a disability. However, there are some initiatives to change typical residential practices so that new homes incorporate basic access features such as zero-step entries and door widths adequate for wheelchairs to pass through. Occupational Therapists are a professional group skilled in the assessment and making of recommendations to improve access to homes. They are involved in both

890-407: A large 1999 survey found that "of the 'top 100 multinational companies' in the country [...] the employment rate of persons with disabilities in the private sector was a mere 0.28%, 0.05% in multinational companies and only 0.58% in the top 100 IT companies in the country". India, like much of the world, has large sections of the economy that are without strong regulation or social protections, such as

979-405: A maximum of 42 cells per line (its margins are adjustable), and typical paper allows 25 lines per page. A large interlining Stainsby has 36 cells per line and 18 lines per page. An A4-sized Marburg braille frame, which allows interpoint braille (dots on both sides of the page, offset so they do not interfere with each other), has 30 cells per line and 27 lines per page. A Braille writing machine

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1068-440: A range of tasks, and may be suitable for different kinds of disability. The following impairments are some of the disabilities that affect communications and technology access, as well as many other life activities: Each kind of disability requires a different kind of accommodation, and this may require analysis by a medical specialist, an educational specialist or a job analysis when the impairment requires accommodation. One of

1157-611: A space-saving mechanism; and grade 3  – various non-standardized personal stenographies that are less commonly used. In addition to braille text (letters, punctuation, contractions), it is also possible to create embossed illustrations and graphs, with the lines either solid or made of series of dots, arrows, and bullets that are larger than braille dots. A full braille cell includes six raised dots arranged in two columns, each column having three dots. The dot positions are identified by numbers from one to six. There are 64 possible combinations, including no dots at all for

1246-418: A specified context of use. Accessibility is also strongly related to universal design , the process of creating products that are usable by the widest possible range of people, operating within the widest possible range of situations. Universal design typically provides a single general solution that can accommodate people with disabilities as well as the rest of the population. By contrast, accessible design

1335-541: A standard color code that enables colorblind individuals to understand the correct signal. Adaptive technology is the modification, or adaptation, of existing devices, methods, or the creation of new uses for existing devices, to enable a person to complete a task. Examples include the use of remote controls, and the autocomplete (word completion) feature in computer word processing programs, which both help individuals with mobility impairments to complete tasks. Adaptations to wheelchair tires are another example; widening

1424-594: A state, provincial or local level. In Ontario, Canada , the Ontarians with Disabilities Act of 2001 is meant to "improve the identification, removal and prevention of barriers faced by persons with disabilities". The European Union (EU), which has signed the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, also has adopted a European Disability Strategy for 2010–20. The Strategy includes

1513-409: A stationary bus to temporarily lower itself to ground level, permitting wheelchair access. This is referred to as a kneeling bus . At rapid transit systems, vehicles generally have floors in the same height as the platforms but the stations are often underground or elevated, so accessibility there is not a question of providing low-floor vehicles, but providing a step-free access from street level to

1602-618: A system much more like shorthand. Today, there are braille codes for over 133 languages. In English, some variations in the braille codes have traditionally existed among English-speaking countries. In 1991, work to standardize the braille codes used in the English-speaking world began. Unified English Braille (UEB) has been adopted in all seven member countries of the International Council on English Braille (ICEB) as well as Nigeria. For blind readers, braille

1691-548: A text interface for a speech synthesizer for complete vocal disability. This can be a great improvement for people that have been limited to the use of a throat vibrator to produce speech since the 1960s. Braille Braille ( / ˈ b r eɪ l / BRAYL , French: [bʁɑj] ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired . It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone devices. Braille can be written using

1780-469: A text interfered with following the alignment of the letters, and consequently made texts more difficult to read than Braille's more arbitrary letter assignment. Finally, there are braille scripts that do not order the codes numerically at all, such as Japanese Braille and Korean Braille , which are based on more abstract principles of syllable composition. Texts are sometimes written in a script of eight dots per cell rather than six, enabling them to encode

1869-517: A toilet at entrance level and sufficiently wide doorways, to deem them accessible. This was an improvement from 5% in 2005. More than 400,000 wheelchair users in England were living in homes which are neither adapted nor accessible. Under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , states parties are bound to assure accessible elections , voting , and voting procedures. In 2018,

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1958-434: A very early stage, the trams were named after famous local people. Vinyl transfers carrying the names are on diagonally opposite corners of the exterior. Upon introduction they were also on the front (in direction of travel) right-hand side above the windows, in the same style as advertisements. In December 2012, NET announced that the fleet would be refurbished and receive a new livery and interior. The first to be refurbished

2047-522: A wide range of issues, from skills training, to occupational therapy , finding employment, and retaining employment. Employment rates for workers with disabilities are lower than for the general workforce. Workers in Western countries fare relatively well, having access to more services and training as well as legal protections against employment discrimination. Despite this, in the United States

2136-603: Is a typewriter with six keys that allows the user to write braille on a regular hard copy page. The first Braille typewriter to gain general acceptance was invented by Frank Haven Hall (Superintendent of the Illinois School for the Blind ), and was presented to the public in 1892. The Stainsby Brailler, developed by Henry Stainsby in 1903, is a mechanical writer with a sliding carriage that moves over an aluminium plate as it embosses Braille characters. An improved version

2225-525: Is an independent writing system, rather than a code of printed orthography. Braille is derived from the Latin alphabet, albeit indirectly. In Braille's original system, the dot patterns were assigned to letters according to their position within the alphabetic order of the French alphabet of the time, with accented letters and w sorted at the end. Unlike print, which consists of mostly arbitrary symbols,

2314-530: Is dot 5, which combines with the first letter of words. With the letter ⠍ m , the resulting word is ⠐ ⠍ mother . There are also ligatures ("contracted" letters), which are single letters in braille but correspond to more than one letter in print. The letter ⠯ and , for example, is used to write words with the sequence a-n-d in them, such as ⠛ ⠗ ⠯ grand . Most braille embossers support between 34 and 40 cells per line, and 25 lines per page. A manually operated Perkins braille typewriter supports

2403-399: Is extended by adding the decade dots, whereas in the fifth decade it is extended by shifting it downward. Originally there had been nine decades. The fifth through ninth used dashes as well as dots, but they proved to be impractical to distinguish by touch under normal conditions and were soon abandoned. From the beginning, these additional decades could be substituted with what we now know as

2492-492: Is focused on ensuring that there are no barriers to accessibility for all people, including those with disabilities. The disability rights movement advocates equal access to social, political, and economic life which includes not only physical access but access to the same tools, services, organizations and facilities as non-disabled people (e.g., museums ). Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on

2581-420: Is important to have effective mechanisms to ensure that urban spaces are designed to be inclusive of pedestrians with disabilities. These can include early consultation with disabled persons or their representative organisations, and appropriate regulation of city planning. Most existing and new housing, even in the wealthiest nations, lack basic accessibility features unless the designated, immediate occupant of

2670-562: Is read as capital 'A', and ⠼ ⠁ as the digit '1'. Basic punctuation marks in English Braille include: ⠦ is both the question mark and the opening quotation mark. Its reading depends on whether it occurs before a word or after. ⠶ is used for both opening and closing parentheses. Its placement relative to spaces and other characters determines its interpretation. Punctuation varies from language to language. For example, French Braille uses ⠢ for its question mark and swaps

2759-434: Is the desire for many senior citizens to 'age in place', living as independently as possible for as long as possible. Accessibility modifications that allow ageing in place are becoming more common. Housing may even be designed to incorporate accessibility modifications that can be made throughout the life cycle of the residents. The English Housing Survey for 2018/19 found only 9% of homes in England have key features, such as

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2848-423: The informal economy . Other factors have been cited as contributing to the high unemployment rate, such as public service regulations. Although employment for workers with disabilities is higher in the public sector due to hiring programs targeting persons with disabilities, regulations currently restrict types of work available to persons with disabilities: "Disability-specific employment reservations are limited to

2937-453: The slate and stylus is a portable writing tool, much like the pen and paper for the sighted. Errors can be erased using a braille eraser or can be overwritten with all six dots ( ⠿ ). Interpoint refers to braille printing that is offset, so that the paper can be embossed on both sides, with the dots on one side appearing between the divots that form the dots on the other. Using a computer or other electronic device, Braille may be produced with

3026-479: The 2012 unemployment rate for workers with disabilities was 12.9%, while it was 7.3% for workers without disabilities. More than half of workers with disabilities (52%) earned less than $ 25,000 in the previous year, compared with just 38% of workers with no disabilities. This translates into an earnings gap where individuals with disabilities earn about 25 percent less of what workers without disabilities earn. Among occupations with 100,000 or more people, dishwashers had

3115-422: The French order of the decade was u v x y z ç é à è ù ( ⠥ ⠧ ⠭ ⠽ ⠵ ⠯ ⠿ ⠷ ⠮ ⠾ ). The next ten letters, ending in w , are the same again, except that for this series position 6 (purple dot in the bottom right corner of the cell in the table above) is used without a dot at position 3. In French braille these are the letters â ê î ô û ë ï ü œ w ( ⠡ ⠣ ⠩ ⠹ ⠱ ⠫ ⠻ ⠳ ⠪ ⠺ ). W had been tacked onto

3204-641: The Incentro trams began in 2019, with tram 203 being the first to be treated. The refurbished Incentro trams have had mechanical work undertaken as well as a new livery, to make the trams look more similar to the Citadis fleet. [REDACTED] Media related to Adtranz Incentro (Nottingham) at Wikimedia Commons Low floor Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity. The concept focuses on enabling access for people with disabilities, or enabling access through

3293-532: The Rights of Persons with Disabilities commits signatories to provide for full accessibility in their countries. While it is often used to describe facilities or amenities to assist people with impaired mobility, through the provision of facilities like wheelchair ramps , the term can include other types of disability. Accessible facilities therefore extend to areas such as Braille signage, elevators , audio signals at pedestrian crossings , walkway contours, website accessibility and accessible publishing . In

3382-648: The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities issued an opinion that all polling stations should be fully accessible. At the European Court of Human Rights , there are currently two ongoing cases about the accessibility of polling places and voting procedures. They were brought against Slovenia by two voters and the Slovenian Disability Rights Association . As of January 2020,

3471-401: The United States, Japan, UK, and elsewhere, have decided that when it is needed to assure secret ballot, authorities should provide voters with assistive technology. The European Court of Human Rights, on the contrary, in case Toplak v. Slovenia ruled that due to high costs, the abandonment of the assistive equipment in elections did not violate human rights. Accessibility of employment covers

3560-523: The United States, government mandates including Section 508, WCAG, DDA are all enforcing practices to standardize accessibility testing engineering in product development. Accessibility modifications may be required to enable persons with disabilities to gain access to education, employment, transportation, housing, recreation, or even simply to exercise their right to vote. Various countries have legislation requiring physical accessibility which are (in order of enactment): Legislation may also be enacted on

3649-444: The ability to access information and services by minimizing the barriers of distance and cost as well as the accessibility and usability of the interface. In many countries this has led to initiatives, laws and/or regulations that aim toward providing universal access to the internet and to phone systems at reasonable cost to citizens. A major advantage of advanced technology is its flexibility. Some technologies can be used at home, in

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3738-564: The accessibility plans, these are often the distance or time to access services by different modes of transport including walking, cycling and public transport. Accessibility Planning was introduced as a result of the report "Making the Connections: Final Report on Transport and Social Exclusion". This report was the result of research carried out by the Social Exclusion Unit. The United Kingdom also has

3827-540: The adaptation of existing housing to improve accessibility, and in the design of future housing. The broad concept of Universal design is relevant to housing, as it is to all aspects of the built environment. Furthermore, a Visitability movement begun by grass roots disability advocates in the 1980s focuses specifically on changing construction practices in new housing. This movement, a network of interested people working in their locales, works on educating, passing laws, and spurring voluntary home access initiatives with

3916-470: The addition of a dot at position 3 (red dots in the bottom left corners of the cells in the table below): ⠅ ⠇ ⠍ ⠝ ⠕ ⠏ ⠟ ⠗ ⠎ ⠞ : The next ten letters (the next " decade ") are the same again, but with dots also at both position 3 and position 6 (green dots in the bottom rows of the cells in the table above). Here w was left out as it was not part of the official French alphabet in Braille's time;

4005-401: The alphabet – thus the code was unable to render the orthography of the words. Second, the 12-dot symbols could not easily fit beneath the pad of the reading finger. This required the reading finger to move in order to perceive the whole symbol, which slowed the reading process. (This was because Barbier's system was based only on the number of dots in each of two 6-dot columns, not

4094-648: The biggest challenges for employers is in developing policies and practises to manage employees who develop disabilities during the course of employment. Even where these exist, they tend to focus on workplace injuries, overlooking job retention challenges faced by employees who acquire a non-occupation injury or illness. Protecting employability is a factor that can help close the unemployment gap for persons with disabilities. Providing mobility to people with disabilities includes changes for public facilities like gently sloping paths of travel for people using wheelchairs and difficulty walking up stairs, or audio announcements for

4183-414: The blind (either live or automated ); dedicated services like paratransit ; and adaptations to personal vehicles. Automobile accessibility also refers to ease of use by disabled people. Automobiles, whether a car or a van, can be adapted for a range of physical disabilities. Foot pedals can be raised, or replaced with hand-controlled devices. Wheelchair hoists, lifts or ramps may be customized according to

4272-460: The braille alphabet follows a logical sequence. The first ten letters of the alphabet, a – j , use the upper four dot positions: ⠁ ⠃ ⠉ ⠙ ⠑ ⠋ ⠛ ⠓ ⠊ ⠚ (black dots in the table below). These stand for the ten digits 1 – 9 and 0 in an alphabetic numeral system similar to Greek numerals (as well as derivations of it, including Hebrew numerals , Cyrillic numerals , Abjad numerals , also Hebrew gematria and Greek isopsephy ). Though

4361-553: The braille letters according to the sort order of the print alphabet being transcribed; and reassigning the letters to improve the efficiency of writing in braille. Under international consensus, most braille alphabets follow the French sorting order for the 26 letters of the basic Latin alphabet , and there have been attempts at unifying the letters beyond these 26 (see international braille ), though differences remain, for example, in German Braille . This unification avoids

4450-482: The case, called Toplak and Mrak v. Slovenia , was ongoing. The aim of the court procedure is to make accessible all polling places in Europe. Advances in information technology and telecommunications have represented a leap forward for accessibility. Access to the technology is restricted to those who can afford it, but it has become more widespread in Western countries in recent years. For those who use it, it provides

4539-552: The chaos of each nation reordering the braille code to match the sorting order of its print alphabet, as happened in Algerian Braille , where braille codes were numerically reassigned to match the order of the Arabic alphabet and bear little relation to the values used in other countries (compare modern Arabic Braille , which uses the French sorting order), and as happened in an early American version of English Braille, where

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4628-495: The construction of the NET tramway and for the delivery of 15 trams but in 2001 before work began ADtranz was acquired by Bombardier Transportation , which carried out the construction and manufacturing work between 2002 and 2003. The trams entered service on 9 March 2004 and run on 750 volts DC with a top speed of 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph). They are articulated in five sections, and are 33 metres long and 2.4 metres wide. From

4717-399: The dots are assigned in no obvious order, the cells with the fewest dots are assigned to the first three letters (and lowest digits), abc = 123 ( ⠁ ⠃ ⠉ ), and to the three vowels in this part of the alphabet, aei ( ⠁ ⠑ ⠊ ), whereas the even digits 4 , 6 , 8 , 0 ( ⠙ ⠋ ⠓ ⠚ ) are right angles. The next ten letters, k – t , are identical to a – j respectively, apart from

4806-469: The end of 39 letters of the French alphabet to accommodate English. The a – j series shifted down by one dot space ( ⠂ ⠆ ⠒ ⠲ ⠢ ⠖ ⠶ ⠦ ⠔ ⠴ ) is used for punctuation. Letters a ⠁ and c ⠉ , which only use dots in the top row, were shifted two places for the apostrophe and hyphen: ⠄ ⠤ . (These are also the decade diacritics, on the left in the table below, of the second and third decade.) In addition, there are ten patterns that are based on

4895-506: The first areas where information technology improved the quality of life for disabled individuals is the voice operated wheelchair. Quadriplegics have the most profound disability, and the voice operated wheelchair technology was first developed in 1977 to provide increased mobility. The original version replaced the joystick system with a module that recognized 8 commands. Many other technology accommodation improvements have evolved from this initial development. Missing arms or fingers may make

4984-467: The first two letters ( ⠁ ⠃ ) with their dots shifted to the right; these were assigned to non-French letters ( ì ä ò ⠌ ⠜ ⠬ ), or serve non-letter functions: ⠈ (superscript; in English the accent mark), ⠘ (currency prefix), ⠨ (capital, in English the decimal point ), ⠼ ( number sign ), ⠸ (emphasis mark), ⠐ (symbol prefix). The first four decades are similar in that the numeric sequence

5073-469: The following goals, among others: A European Accessibility Act was proposed in late 2012. This Act would establish standards within member countries for accessible products, services, and public buildings. The harmonization of accessibility standards within the EU "would facilitate the social integration of persons with disabilities and the elderly and their mobility across member states, thereby also fostering

5162-553: The free movement principle". Enforcement of the European Accessibility Act (EAA) begins in June 2025 Assistive technology is the creation of a new device that assists a person in completing a task that would otherwise be impossible. Some examples include new computer software programs like screen readers , and inventions such as assistive listening devices , including hearing aids , and traffic lights with

5251-492: The highest disability rate (14.3%), followed by refuse and recyclable material collectors (12.7%), personal care aides (11.9%), and janitors and building cleaners (11.8%). The rates for refuse and recyclable material collectors, personal care aides, and janitors and building cleaners were not statistically different from one another. Surveys of non-Western countries are limited, but the available statistics also indicate fewer jobs being filled by workers with disabilities. In India,

5340-419: The intention that basic access become a routine part of new home construction. Accessibility in the design of housing and household devices has become more prominent in recent decades due to a rapidly ageing population in developed countries. Ageing seniors may wish to continue living independently, but the ageing process naturally increases the disabilities that a senior citizen will experience. A growing trend

5429-507: The left column and at the top of the right column: that is, the letter ⠍ m . The lines of horizontal braille text are separated by a space, much like visible printed text, so that the dots of one line can be differentiated from the braille text above and below. Different assignments of braille codes (or code pages ) are used to map the character sets of different printed scripts to the six-bit cells. Braille assignments have also been created for mathematical and musical notation. However, because

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5518-443: The letters w , x , y , z were reassigned to match English alphabetical order. A convention sometimes seen for letters beyond the basic 26 is to exploit the physical symmetry of braille patterns iconically, for example, by assigning a reversed n to ñ or an inverted s to sh . (See Hungarian Braille and Bharati Braille , which do this to some extent.) A third principle was to assign braille codes according to frequency, with

5607-823: The local authorities are responsible for organizing changes to make new connections. These requirements are defined in the UK Community Planning Acts legislation and more detailed guidance has been issued by the Department for Transport for each local authority . This includes the requirement to produce an Accessibility Plan under Community Planning legislation and to incorporate this within their Local Transport Plan . An Accessibility Plan sets out how each local authority plans to improve access to employment, learning, health care, food shops and other services of local importance, particularly for disadvantaged groups and areas. Accessibility targets are defined in

5696-519: The lower-right dot). Eight-dot braille has the advantages that the casing of each letter is coded in the cell and that every printable ASCII character can be encoded in a single cell. All 256 (2 ) possible combinations of 8 dots are encoded by the Unicode standard. Braille with six dots is frequently stored as Braille ASCII . The first 25 braille letters, up through the first half of the 3rd decade, transcribe a–z (skipping w ). In English Braille,

5785-408: The need for braille, technological advancements such as braille displays have continued to make braille more accessible and available. Braille users highlight that braille remains as essential as print is to the sighted. ⠏ ⠗ ⠑ ⠍ ⠊ ⠑ ⠗ Braille was based on a tactile code , now known as night writing , developed by Charles Barbier . (The name "night writing" was later given to it when it

5874-463: The needs of the driver. Ergonomic adaptations, such as a lumbar support cushion, may also be needed. Generally, the more limiting the disability, the more expensive the adaptation needed for the vehicle. Financial assistance is available through some organizations, such as Motability in the United Kingdom, which requires a contribution by the prospective vehicle owner. Motability makes vehicles available for purchase or lease. When an employee with

5963-481: The number sign ( ⠼ ) applied to the earlier decades, though that only caught on for the digits (the old 5th decade being replaced by ⠼ applied to the 1st decade). The dash occupying the top row of the original sixth decade was simply omitted, producing the modern fifth decade. (See 1829 braille .) Historically, there have been three principles in assigning the values of a linear script (print) to Braille: Using Louis Braille's original French letter values; reassigning

6052-399: The on-screen braille input keyboard, to type braille symbols on to their device by placing their fingers on to the screen according to the dot configuration of the symbols they wish to form. These symbols are automatically translated into print on the screen. The different tools that exist for writing braille allow the braille user to select the method that is best for a given task. For example,

6141-408: The passenger cabin is unobstructed from one or more entrances by the presence of steps, enabling easier access for the infirm or people with push chairs . A further aspect may be that the entrance and corridors are wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair. Low-floor vehicles have been developed for buses , trolleybuses , trams and trains . A low floor in the vehicular sense is normally combined in

6230-445: The pattern of the dots.) Third, the code did not include symbols for numerals or punctuation. Braille's solution was to use 6-dot cells and to assign a specific pattern to each letter of the alphabet. Braille also developed symbols for representing numerals and punctuation. At first, braille was a one-to-one transliteration of the French alphabet, but soon various abbreviations (contractions) and even logograms were developed, creating

6319-465: The platforms (generally by elevators , which may be restricted to disabled passengers only, so that the step-free access is not obstructed by non-disabled people taking advantage). In the United Kingdom , local transport authorities are responsible for checking that all people who live within their area can access essential opportunities and services, and where gaps in provision are identified

6408-585: The public has led to some technological innovations. Public announcement systems using audio induction loop technology can broadcast announcements directly into the hearing aid of anyone with a hearing impairment, making them useful in such public places as auditoriums and train stations. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) requires ‘appropriate measures’ to ensure people with disabilities are able to ‘access, on an equal basis with others','the physical environment’, ‘transportation’ and ‘other facilities and services open or provided to

6497-1186: The public sector and a large number of the reserved positions continue to be vacant despite nearly two decades of enactment of the PWD Act". Expenses related to adaptive or assistive technology required to participate in the workforce may be tax deductible expenses for individuals with a medical practitioner's prescription in some jurisdictions. Disability management (DM) is a specialized area of human resources that supports efforts of employers to better integrate and retain workers with disabilities. Some workplaces have policies in place to provide "reasonable accommodation" for employees with disabilities, but many do not. In some jurisdictions, employers may have legal requirements to end discrimination against persons with disabilities . It has been noted by researchers that where accommodations are in place for employees with disabilities, these frequently apply to individuals with "pre-determined or apparent disabilities as determined by national social protection or Equality Authorities", which include persons with pre-existing conditions who receive an official disability designation. One of

6586-409: The public’’. This requirement also applies to ‘roads’ and ‘transportation’ as well as ‘buildings, and other indoor and outdoor facilities’. At the same time, promotion of active travel , or 'shared space' initiatives to pedestrianise city centres can introduce unintended barriers, especially for pedestrians who are visually impaired and who can find these environments confusing or even dangerous. It

6675-537: The quotation marks and parentheses (to ⠶ and ⠦ ⠴ ); it uses ( ⠲ ) for both the period and the decimal point, and the English decimal point ( ⠨ ) to mark capitalization. Braille contractions are words and affixes that are shortened so that they take up fewer cells. In English Braille, for example, the word afternoon is written with just three letters, ⠁ ⠋ ⠝ ⟨afn⟩ , much like stenoscript . There are also several abbreviation marks that create what are effectively logograms . The most common of these

6764-417: The rest of that decade is rounded out with the ligatures and, for, of, the, and with . Omitting dot 3 from these forms the 4th decade, the ligatures ch, gh, sh, th, wh, ed, er, ou, ow and the letter w . (See English Braille .) Various formatting marks affect the values of the letters that follow them. They have no direct equivalent in print. The most important in English Braille are: That is, ⠠ ⠁

6853-491: The simplest patterns (quickest ones to write with a stylus) assigned to the most frequent letters of the alphabet. Such frequency-based alphabets were used in Germany and the United States in the 19th century (see American Braille ), but with the invention of the braille typewriter their advantage disappeared, and none are attested in modern use – they had the disadvantage that the resulting small number of dots in

6942-414: The six positions, producing 64 (2 ) possible patterns, including one in which there are no raised dots. For reference purposes, a pattern is commonly described by listing the positions where dots are raised, the positions being universally numbered, from top to bottom, as 1 to 3 on the left and 4 to 6 on the right. For example, dot pattern 1-3-4 describes a cell with three dots raised, at the top and bottom in

7031-415: The six-dot braille cell allows only 64 (2 ) patterns, including space, the characters of a braille script commonly have multiple values, depending on their context. That is, character mapping between print and braille is not one-to-one. For example, the character ⠙ corresponds in print to both the letter d and the digit 4 . In addition to simple encoding, many braille alphabets use contractions to reduce

7120-404: The size of braille texts and to increase reading speed. (See Contracted braille .) Braille may be produced by hand using a slate and stylus in which each dot is created from the back of the page, writing in mirror image, or it may be produced on a braille typewriter or Perkins Brailler , or an electronic Brailler or braille notetaker. Braille users with access to smartphones may also activate

7209-508: The streamlining of their accessibility services, allowing passengers requiring assistance to inform the company with as little as 10 minutes' notice at all 189 stations on its network, replacing an older scheme wherein assisted journeys had to be booked six hours to a day in advance. The system will utilise clear signage at stations and QR codes , allowing customers to send details of the assistance they require and their planned journey to staff remotely. Making public services fully accessible to

7298-516: The tires enables wheelchair users to move over soft surfaces, such as deep snow on ski hills, and sandy beaches. Assistive technology and adaptive technology have a key role in developing the means for people with disabilities to live more independently, and to more fully participate in mainstream society. In order to have access to assistive or adaptive technology, however, educating the public and even legislating requirements to incorporate this technology have been necessary. The UN CRPD, and courts in

7387-458: The use of assistive technology ; however, research and development in accessibility brings benefits to everyone. Therefore, an accessible society should eliminate digital divide or knowledge divide . Accessibility is not to be confused with usability , which is the extent to which a product (such as a device, service, or environment) can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in

7476-439: The use of a keyboard and mouse difficult or impossible. Technological improvements such as speech recognition devices and software can improve access. A communication disorder interferes with the ability to produce clearly understandable speech. There can be many different causes, such as nerve degeneration, muscle degeneration, stroke, and vocal cord injury. The modern method to deal with speaking disabilities has been to provide

7565-522: The workplace, and in school, expanding the ability of the user to participate in various spheres of daily life. Augmentative and alternative communication technology is one such area of IT progress. It includes inventions such as speech-generating devices , teletypewriter devices, adaptive pointing devices to replace computer mouse devices, and many others. Mobile telecommunications devices and computer applications are also equipped with accessibility features. They can be adapted to create accessibility to

7654-454: Was considered as a means for soldiers to communicate silently at night and without a light source, but Barbier's writings do not use this term and suggest that it was originally designed as a simpler form of writing and for the visually impaired.) In Barbier's system, sets of 12 embossed dots were used to encode 36 different sounds. Braille identified three major defects of the code: first, the symbols represented phonetic sounds and not letters of

7743-767: Was introduced around 1933. In 1951 David Abraham, a woodworking teacher at the Perkins School for the Blind , produced a more advanced Braille typewriter, the Perkins Brailler . Braille printers or embossers were produced in the 1950s. In 1960 Robert Mann, a teacher in MIT, wrote DOTSYS , a software that allowed automatic braille translation , and another group created an embossing device called "M.I.T. Braillemboss". The Mitre Corporation team of Robert Gildea, Jonathan Millen, Reid Gerhart and Joseph Sullivan (now president of Duxbury Systems) developed DOTSYS III,

7832-749: Was the first binary form of writing developed in the modern era. Braille characters are formed using a combination of six raised dots arranged in a 3 × 2 matrix, called the braille cell. The number and arrangement of these dots distinguishes one character from another. Since the various braille alphabets originated as transcription codes for printed writing, the mappings (sets of character designations) vary from language to language, and even within one; in English braille there are three levels: uncontracted  – a letter-by-letter transcription used for basic literacy; contracted  – an addition of abbreviations and contractions used as

7921-468: Was tram 215, which was released for passenger service on 8 March 2013. Trams 214, 213, 205, 202, 203 have since been refurbished. The 22 new Alstom Citadis 302 trams, built for the tramway extensions are in the new livery. The refurbishment had been planned for a while, as the artist impressions of the new trams showed that their seating was the same as the seating in the refurbishment – the impressions were released in June 2012. A further refurbishment of

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