Chicago Lighthouse develops braille greeting cards

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A local not-for-profit organization has developed greeting cards with messages in braille.

The sole purpose of sending someone a card is for them to read the message. With braille greeting cards, people who are blind can independently get the message.

There are many different greeting cards available at the Chicago Lighthouse's store on Roosevelt Road.

Alisa Singer, a former lawyer turned-artist, created them.

"I wanted to combine my love for art and my desire to help people in the blind community, and I thought of braille as artistic, as esthetically appealing and interesting, and I thought why not feature the beauty and art of braille using a greeting card," Singer said.

"I used a printed sheet that shows me the braille alphabet, so I design each image around the pattern of the braille message," she said.

Chicago Lighthouse board member Julie Stark says the cards have only been available since February.

"We have really started to see people ordering them, we have had a couple opportunities to talk about them through the Lighthouse and through our events, and suddenly we see people order them online," Stark said.

They not only sell cards here, they also employ people who are blind to produce and put them together for shipping. Individual cards are $3-4, and $15-19 for a package.

"We have more cards coming up, we will have cards available both online and in the stores for the holidays," Singer said.

Stark hopes other blind and visually-impaired organizations will sell these.

"With their own logos and mission on the back of the cards," she said. "There isn't any other card out there that relies on braille as the fundamental design element, so braille is the design pattern of each card and that ties the card closer to the mission and the purpose of the organization."

If you are interested in ordering braille cards, visit www.ChicagoLighthouse.org.