On flights everywhere we always hear the same speech, “In a few moments, the flight attendants will be passing around the cabin to offer you hot or cold drinks, as well as a light snack. Alcoholic drinks are also available for purchase. Please be sure to check our menus located in your seat compartment. Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.” What if the menu wasn’t accessible for you to read? Between the 200 passengers and the 4-6 flight attendants, it’s going to be quite difficult to get the flight attendant to read the menu to you!

Now imagine that all of the menus are available in braille for you to read. The flight attendant comes by and asks you if you would like to order a drink or a snack and you can independently order for yourself. If the couple next to you can order a drink right off the menu, you should have every right to have a menu you can read, too.

Vice President of Development and Major Gifts, Joe Quintanilla, flies regularly throughout the United States to meet with braille readers. On his flights he is often told that he can have a menu read to him due to a lack of braille menus on airplanes. “Wouldn’t it be great to not have to worry about rushing through TSA while hoping that the lines at the concession stands in the airport terminal are not too long? Wouldn’t it be less stressful if you knew that when you get on the plane there are great food options available to you and that you will actually know what they are, if there were braille menus?” We at National Braille Press are determined to make print materials accessible for blind users.

Proofreader Nallym Bravo loves to travel and experience new things. She finds it disheartening when she cannot assert her independence through reading her own menu. “Life looks extra wonderful from thirty thousand feet. Add some snacks, a cocktail, and a movie, and the route to my next vacation is almost perfect. The one problem? I have no idea what said cocktails, snacks, and movies are. While I do appreciate the in-flight safety information being in braille in case I need it—which I hope I never do—I'll be glad I read it. But I am far more likely to select a drink than an exit. I can guarantee that if airlines started handing out braille versions of their food and entertainment offerings, I would not be the only blind person to be sipping a glass of their finest wine in the clouds.”