‘We’d be stuck’: alarm as UK’s last braille typewriter repairer ponders retirement
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Alan Thorpe is Britain’s last certified fixer of the Perkins brailler, a machine vital for teaching blind children to read and write. Alan 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.”.
![[Matthew Weaver]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2023/04/26/Mattew_Weaver_V3.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
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.
![[Alan Thorpe in his workshop]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/66006de50bb2828645b214cc850d669b8f747e97/0_273_8192_4918/master/8192.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
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.
![[A Perkins brailler]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/21b80979c1f1990e55fd3b33603fb46cbacd01cd/0_372_8192_4918/master/8192.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Mending the intricate machines looks a daunting task. Inside is a complex mechanism of levers, springs, rollers and chains. But Thorpe, who has been registered as blind since the age of 15, does all the repair work by feel alone. And he is not fazed by the latest broken machines. He is sure they can be working again after a paraffin bath to clean up accumulated gunge and some careful plier work to straighten bent keys.
