It’s not hard to get this grouping together, to talk chocolate, so we were thrilled to speak with Ramya Amuthan and Julia Cho about precisely that.

This week on Outlook, we speak with Julia, Marketing Manager of Canadian chocolate company Purdys Chocolatier about their newest reveal, the braille box, which was released to massive acclaim back at Christmas. Also, with her second appearance on our show, we hear from Ramya, on air personality and co-host of Accessible Media Inc.’s Kelly and Company about her role as consultant on the product’s development from the visually impaired community perspective.

We learn more about how the braille box was envisioned and executed and speak about the wider issues of universal design. Ramya shares what it was like to give her input on the braille and other features, including tactile markers and the choice to use grade one braille for this special assorted box of chocolates and its accompanying braille legend.

Ramya also discusses what it’s like to be able to pick one’s favourite from a selection of mixed chocolates, when normally blind people don’t know what they might be getting when they choose a piece unless they ask someone who is sighted. Some may like the unknown adventure of that, the risk, if you will, of possibly biting into a fruit filling when that’s the last thing you wanted. Do you spit out the piece or swallow it down and hope for the best next time?

Well, Purdys has produced a solution for that for blind chocolate lovers and that’s no small thing, as Ramya shares in this episode.

From the feelings chocolate can evoke in many of us to what Julia, in her role at Purdys has learned about inclusive design practices and the access needs for blind people specifically, this discussion was a delight and we, on Outlook, are pleased to feature and support the braille box and Purdys, Canadian and an all around beautiful product.

Purchase the Purdys Braille Box here:

https://www.purdys.com/braille-box-18-pc

Check out the promotion video featuring Ramya:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBEDNQXv62U

And listen to Ramya’s first appearance on Outlook:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2021-03-29-discussion-with-ramya-amuthan-from/id1527876739?i=1000515098520