Bring on the Braille

At many restaurants Mary Stores has to either have a friend read off the menu or have the server tell her what is on it.\nStores, a Bloomington resident who is blind, said this isn't a pleasant experience.\n"The waiter has other things going on, and I get the short version," she said.\nStores is just one of the visually impaired persons who will benefit from a recently announced program designed to bring Braille and large-print menus to more restaurants in the Bloomington area.\nA partnership between the Bloomington Council for Community Accessibility and the IU Adaptive Technology Center will allow local restaurants that want a copy of their menu offered in Braille and large-print to receive them for free. Mayor Mark Kruzan announced the initiative Sept. 11, and it is currently being implemented. \nThe program has already allowed more restaurants to serve those with visual impairments. Restaurants that have Braille menus include Bucceto's Smiling Teeth, Cafe Pizzaria and Michael's Uptown Cafe. \nStores approves.\n"Braille menus give me the option of choosing for myself," she said. "Going to a restaurant that has a Braille menu improves the experience, and it is more enjoyable." \nStores isn't just benefitting from the program though. She's a key player in making it happen.\nRestaurants can send menus ready for translation electronically to Marie Clapot, the chairwoman of the Arts Access Committee within the Bloomington Council for Community Accessibility. Clapot will then pass the menus along to Stores, who is the Braille and alternate format specialist for the IU Adaptive Technology Center. Stores then converts the menu into contracted Braille -- a short-hand version of Braille that is used because the six-dot format that makes up a letter in Braille is longer than printed letters, which would make the menu longer, Stores said. \nReceiving the menu in electronic form allows it to be converted using a Braille computer program, then printed on a special printer that shoots out the menu with raised Braille dots on it.\nThe typical menu takes about three hours to translate into Braille, and \nrestaurants receive two copies.\nWithout the new initiative, if a restaurant wanted to have a menu translated, Stores estimated a professional translator might charge 50 cents per page, plus a translation fee per page and possibly an hourly charge as well.\nThe IU Adaptive Technology Center is handling the cost of producing the menus, said Craig Brenner, who is involved in the initiative as the special project coordinator of Community and Family Resources for Bloomington.\nBrenner said because of the availability of menus in Braille and large-print, "more people with visual impairments will try new restaurants and feel welcome." \nMichael's Uptown Cafe has had Braille menus for about 10 years and recently had its Braille menu updated through the IU Adaptive Technology Center.\n"It's a good way to reach that audience," said owner Michael Cassady. \nAccording to a news release, the city's Web site, www.bloomington.in.gov, will provide a complete list of Bloomington restaurants that use Braille or large-print menus starting in October.