With aging comes the loss of or degredation of sight. As the global population's age trends upwards, it is necessary to provide a way for the elderly to live a fulfilled, independent life. Currently, Braille is the defacto system for literacy for the blind and low vision (BLV). However the use of Braille is on the decline. This is partially due to the prevalance in technology but I believe a larger issue at hand is the barrier to entry. There is the financiel cost for equipment (a refreshable Braille reader can cost $3,000) and then there is also the large learning curve. In order to be able to take full advantage of the Braille displayed on ATMs or hotel rooms, one must know Grade 2 Braille. Learning both Grade 1 and Grade 2 can take over a year. The struggle to learn Braille includes both memorizing 62 dot combinations with each combination possibly having multiple meanings and also training the fingers to "see". Aside from diminishing sight, cognitive abilities and touch sensitivety decline as one ages. Therefore, Braille might be much more difficult for geriatrics than for younger people. But even for the youth, the barrier to entry with Braille might seem so encumberring that they may prefer forgoing learning how to read and write. However literacy is important [1]. To increase literacy amongst BLV than requres a new writing system.
The system I am trying to come up with consists of both lines and dots. It uses the famous 6 dot Braille cell but it is not Braille therefore does not include any Braille symbols. It also uses a 7 line segment cell. The symbols (especially the letters) include both line segments and dots. The reason for this is to ease the finger into learning how to "orient" itself. A major flaw with Braille is confusion created from an exclusive dot system. For example d6[2] is the capital indicator and d3 is an apostrophe. The symbol for a is d1. The difference between the capital letter A (d6 d1) and still (d3d4) is the distance between the dots.
[1] I do not explain why literacy is important but while audio works just fine for creating laundry lists and consuming media, it cannot label objects around the house. It also necessitates sound emitting from a device which may not always be desireable (consider giving a presentation).
[2] d stands for dots