From: Paul-André Thierry [pathierry@quantech.com.au]
Sent: éåí çîéùé 31 éðåàø 2002 20:12
To: 'rnisser@ofek-liyladenu.org.il'
Subject: The Mountbatten Brailler

Dear Mr. Nisser,

my name is Paul-André Thierry and I work as International Sales Manager for
Quantum Technology.
I am writing to you regarding some enquiries you have made about the
Mountbatten. I am also writing to you at the request of Donna McNear.

VIDEO
I replied to your request for a video early January and have sent you a
CD-ROM on 16 January 2002. This CD-ROM contains a number of videos showing
some people using the Mountbatten and some of its benefits.


LOADING PAPER
I also noted that you had a request regarding the loading of Braille paper
in the Mountbatten. I am attaching a section of our MB Easy Guide, which
indicates simply how to load paper.

Please note that the Mountbatten can use standard A4 paper as well as
Braille paper and plastic paper. The A4 paper is cheaper, makes it easier to
manipulate and store, and thus helps with the integration of a vision
impaired child in a school, by limiting the differences with its sighted
peers.

A number of vision impaired children are quite self-conscious about their
disability. From my experience, at a young age, they often do not want to
look different. The Perkins does look cumbersome. 

The Mountbatten is also a large machine, but its bright colours (light blue,
yellow and dark blue) make it almost "look like a toy". This in fact makes
most of the other children want to look at it, touch it and eventually learn
how to write their first name in Braille. And this greatly helps with the
integration and understanding of people with vision impairment.

NEW MOUNTBATTEN MODEL
As you seem to be aware, we have developed and marketed a newer version of
the Mountbatten (since January 2001). It is a much more elaborate
Mountbatten. It has recorded and synthetic speech, and offers numerous
educational benefits.

The Mountbatten is a "Braille-All-Rounder". It includes features as:
·	Braille writing
·	Braille embossing
·	Ergonomically designed
·	Translation from Braille to text & text to Braille
·	Note taking
·	Networking between Mountbattens
·	Recorded speech - gives instant feedback of numbers, letters,
warnings and commands for basically any language
·	Synthetic speech for some markets
·	MIMIC connection. The Mimic converts Braille sent from the
Mountbatten to regular text that is shown on the LCD display of the MIMIC.
·	MB-Com. A computer soft ware that allows easy access and transfer
between the Mountbatten and a PC.
·	PC-keyboard connection allowing typing on a PC-keyboard to be
translated and brailled on the Mountbatten.

Donna McNear and Anne Wadsworth have summarised the main educational
benefits of the Mountbatten.

Naturally the Mountbatten is not the only educational solution to teaching
Braille and writing Braille in the classroom. It does aim however 
a) to help vision impaired students in mainstream education to develop their
Braille writing and reading skills , and to achieve easier written
communication with sighted people who do not know Braille. 
b) and thus facilitate their integration in the classroom.

MOUNTBATTEN IN HEBREW
We have started working with Mr. Avi Mann from TSR Gaash, regarding the
production of a Mountbatten containing the Hebrew braille tables and
recorded speech.
Recorded speech helps with learning the Hebrew Braille alphabet and the use
of the Mountbatten. A Mountbatten with Hebrew recorded speech can be
supplied within a month.


The Hebrew braille tables will allow the translation from Braille to print
and from print to Braille. It will take us a few months to get our software
ready.

...

Please feel free to contact me if you require any more information.


Yours sincerely,

Paul-André THIERRY
International Sales Manager
Quantum Technology
PO Box 390
Rydalmere 2116, Australia
Ph. 61 2 9684 2077
Fax 61 2 9684 4717
Email pathierry@quantech.com.au