Around August of 2020, Lego revealed a brick design that incorporates braille. Instead of being even rows and columns, the studs are organized to represent the numbers and letters in the Braille alphabet. Lego’s intention is to help blind children learn braille while also enabling vision impared and sighted children play together. This is a wonderful use of the Lego brick design. There is so much potential for this product as it has the capability to be an educative tool, a bridge, and even a way of structuring specialized kits.
Vision impared people learning braille often have to resort to audiobooks, but this doesn’t allow for physical use of the language. This method of teaching provides people with a way of learning braille through the actual use of the language. This immersion into the language and the immediate use of it to build lego structures is a very strong way of ensuring comprehension.
The letters and numbers on the bricks also can be used as a way of communication and constructing sentences. The kits themselves can be designed so that the structure model actually spells out a message once complete. The letters and numbers also could be used for extremely specific directions for model creation.
Lego announced that these bricks will not be available for public use. Instead, kits will be sent to “select institutions, schools and services catering to the education of blind and visually impaired children.”
I think the prioritization of rolling out these learning devices to institutions in service of Lego’s intended audience is a great way to implement the toy as a learning tool. It also provides access to those who need it most. The delay in public release also allows for design tweaks to be made if users have notes or feedback.
