HebrideanHecateAlan Thorpe runs his fingers over the braille note attached to the latest repair job to arrive at his doorstep in Sheffield. Reading from the tactile note, he says: “The paper won’t wind in and the keys are jammed. Good luck.”
Thorpe, 60, is the only certified repairer in the UK of Perkins braille typewriters, the world’s most widely used braille machines. Despite advances in digital technology, these 6kg analogue machines are still a vital communication tool for blind users and are especially crucial for teaching blind children to read and write. But they need to work, so Thorpe’s talk of retirement has prompted alarm among his customers, including schools and local authorities.
“We’d be completely stuck without Alan,” says Rachel Ward, of North East Wales Sensory Support Service. She has driven from Flintshire to pick up 10 Perkins braillers that Thorpe has refurbished. She has also delivered two more machines with braille notes attached explaining what needs fixing.
Thorpe is hoping to recruit an apprentice to take on his business. If he cannot find someone suitable, he suggests that the Royal National Institute of Blind People, which is celebrating 200 years since Louis Braille invented the embossed type, could help to provide a repair service.
Another of Thorpe’s customers, from a school for visually impaired (VI) pupils with more than 100 Perkins machines, is alarmed. The customer, who asked not to be named, said: “When he retires there will potentially be no one in the UK capable of the type of repairs Alan undertakes.
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