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"Danger" written in Braille

Today is Humiliation Day if you have a need for such a thing. And, although it is Trivia Day as well I don't particularly feel like going all over the place, despite the font of miscellanea at my fingertips. Speaking of which, this date marks the 1809 birthday of French educator Louis Braille, after whom the tactile reading system he developed for the blind is named. The first road signs appear today in 1901 and on this day in 1962 the first automated and unmanned subway train is set into motion in New York City.

Yesterday I happened to be in the subway and came to the assistance of a nice man with a white cane. I helped him down the stairs and we waited for the downtown R train until it arrived and then sat together in the subway car until it was my stop, the whole time his arm intertwined with mine. He had an open sense of humor and we talked about a lot of things, very frankly, as is my inclination, and I asked him if the signs posted in Braille at odd locations on the walls or metal columns within the subway system made any sense to him because to me as a sighted person they seemed absurd — how would a blind person know where such signs were, that they even existed, and thus be able to read them? He agreed and laughed and said "We in the blind community are greatly overlooked," the last word perhaps being a bit of an unintentional pun, I realized only after we parted.

This Braille Electric Danger Baseball Jersey — the entire line of apparel here — follows the same psychology. How would a sightless person note such a sign, and in the finding (and feeling) thereof would he not place himself in the very mortal electric danger that is the subject of the visual alert? I cannot think about this too much without getting upset. I do like the shirt, though. It can be found amidst the Electric Danger International collection within the International Signs division of the eclectic CafePress.com Park Crush shop.

[To purchase items click on the photograph or colored text links.]