Assistive technology

Children play with Braille Bricks on the floor as a way to learn Braille and have fun.

Lego to launch Braille Bricks for children with visual impairments

Education

The toys are designed to help children who are blind or visually impaired learn the Braille system of reading and writing, where characters of the alphabet are represented by raised dots.

two women read audio descriptions for a theater

Visually impaired non-English speakers face accessibility language barrier at the movies

A girl named Kajal walks during mobility training at the Bihar Natraheen Parishad, or Bihar School for Blind Girls, in Patna, India, in 2009.

How do you make walking easier for people who are blind? Put submarine tech in a cane

Technology

Mainstream tech opens doors for blind people

Environment

Closed-captioning law to change internet

Global Politics

Getting Kids to Speak Africa’s Languages, One Doll at a Time

The World in Words

Language news with Cartoon Queen Carol and Patrick. We discuss the future of Yoruba, wine flavors in Chinese, some great subtitled TV dramas that Americans are missing out on and much more.

How Jammers Helped Counter the Iraqi Insurgency

Conflict & Justice

The US military came up with a better technology to thwart remote-controlled bombs in Iraq.

The World

Downgrading Wolf Protections

Commentator Robert Braille considers the recent controversies over downgrading protections for wolves.

The World

New communications law mandates closed captioning on the internet

Conflict & Justice

Today, President Obama signs into law the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. We talk with Melanie Humphrey-Sonntag, president of the National Court Reporters Association about what this means.

The World

You’re on candid camera… and making a music video

Arts, Culture & Media

The Takeaway speaks with British rock band The Get Out Clause. They’ve made innovative use of CCTV cameras in their home city of Manchester to create a music video for their new song.