Braillecast

This event introduced participants to the various types of braille labels available and how to create their own labels using a range of materials. The session covered using a slate and stylus, a Perkins brailler and a braille labeller to produce labels, as well as tips for labelling various products around the home. It also took a look at writing greetings cards in braille. This session was recorded on Tuesday 1 December 2020. For further information please visit the Braillists Foundation Media Page.

This session was a practical introduction to braille music. We covered basic music notation and where to access braille music. This session was led by James Bowden, Braille Technical Officer at RNIB. This session was recorded on Tuesday 24 November 2020. For further information please visit the Braillists Foundation Media Page.

This session introduced participants to the many ways of using braille when learning a language. Knowledge of English braille would be helpful when listening, but is not essential. We took a look at using braille in conjunction with various language learning apps, where to learn other language codes and accessing books in other languages. We also heard from blind people who have used braille when traveling and how this has helped them. The session was led by Holly Scott-Gardner. This session was recorded on Tuesday 17 November 2020. For further information please visit the Braillists Foundation Media Page.

This session was a practical introduction to the Hand Frame (also known as a Slate and Stylus). We covered inserting the paper, holding the stylus and writing some characters, as well as some basic types of frame and where to get them, and we answered many questions from participants. The session was led by James Bowden, Braille Technical Officer at RNIB. This session was recorded on Tuesday 10 November 2020. For further information please visit the Braillists Foundation Media Page.

Christmas is coming; the goose is getting fat; and some of Santa's most trusted helpers have been sent, on secondment, to the Royal National Institute of Blind People, where they're busy writing letters to visually impaired children in accessible formats. Co-ordinating this effort on behalf of RNIB is Racheal Jarvis, News Agent Team Leader, and she joined us to tell us more about this exciting project. To request a letter from Santa, please fill out the form on this page, email santa@rnib.org.uk or write to Santa Clause, RNIB, Midgate House, Midgate, Peterborough, PE1 1TN. Deadline for receipt of postal requests is Tuesday 1 December 2020, or Monday 21 December for emails. Also on this episode, we hear about the Braille Challenge Alexa skill from Accessibility.net, inc.

Dave Williams, Brailleists Foundation Chair and Customer Experience Manager at RNIB talks us through the Orbit Reader. What is it, how does it compare to other displays on the market and how can you get one? This session was recorded on Tuesday 3 November 2020. For further information please visit the Braillists Foundation Media Page.

This is an overview of the Orbit Reader 20, held as part of a Stay Safe: Stay Connected call on Monday 27 July 2020.

This episode is a recording of a Stay Safe: Stay Connected call with Stuart Lawler held on Friday 14 August 2020. Stuart Lawler has co-hosted many a Dublin Braillists meeting since 2015. He became Specialist Lead for Braille Product Portfolio at Sight and Sound technology Ltd in September 2018 and has over 20 years' experience working in the Assistive Technology industry, including as a member of the Irish National Braille and Alternative Formats Association (INBAF) and, prior to joining Sight and Sound, as Rehabilitation Centre Manager and Head of Technology Innovation at the National Council for the Blind in Ireland. This session explained how various levels of braille technology, for example a note taker or display, might be advantageous for you in different situations. It also covered how mainstream technology has embraced braille to all our advantages. Stuart focused particularly on the ElBraille with Focus 5th edition display, the Braille Sense Polaris and the QBraille from Selvas Healthcare.

In this first episode of Braillecast Extra, we re-acquaint ourselves with Megan Paul, winner of the 2016 Onkyo Braille Essay Writing Competition. We're treated to a complete reading of her winning essay, following our interview with her on the very first episode of Braillecast.

Based in Boston Massachusetts since 1927, National Braille Press is a global leader in producing high quality, affordable braille materials and developing innovative technologies advancing braille literacy for blind and visually impaired children and adults everywhere. In addition to its first class braille transcription facility, producing everything from standardised tests to restaurant menus, NBP has a unique specialism in publishing original books by blind authors expressly for blind people, from cookery to technology. It also provides braille transcription and production services to like-minded organizations and, through the Centre for Braille Innovation, overseas the annual Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation. In adapting to public health guidelines designed to minimise the spread of COVID-19, National Braille Press has found safe ways to produce braille for the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (part of the Library of Congress), is offering free digital downloads for both chil

The Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC) is Australia’s largest non-government provider of services supporting thousands of adults, children and their families with hearing loss or vision impairment. Established by an Act of Parliament in Australia in 1860, it now operates via a number of Centres, promoting the rights of all persons with vision impairment to inclusion in education, employment and society on the same basis as sighted persons - leaving no-one behind. Of particular note for this podcast is the Renwick Centre which, in partnership with the Macquarie University, is Australia’s leading centre for the provision of high quality teaching and learning opportunities for professionals in the area of Special Education for students with hearing or vision impairment, research in these same areas, and related community service. In September 2014, the Renwick Centre launched UEB Online, an interactive website offering free training in the Unified English Braille code. An Accessible version fo

James Bowden is the Braille Technical Officer at RNIB, whose hard copy braille library is currently out of action due to COVID-19. We asked him what alternatives might be available. RNIB Services RNIB Reading Services RNIB Newsagent RNIB Online Shop Libraries Project Gutenberg The National Accessible Library from Seeing Ear Software Send to Braille Robobraille Braille Blaster Duxbury

For many in the blind community, Dean Martineau will be a household name. Prolific in the technology sphere, he's perhaps best known for his Top Tech Tidbits newsletter, which has been published every Thursday for over ten years. In the past, he was also the voice behind the Sound Computing audio magazine, and delivered bespoke technology training under the brand of Top Dot Enterprises. Towards the end of 2018, he started a new initiative which uses a combination of audio tutorials, electronic braille files and the Orbit Reader 20 to deliver personalised, long-distance instruction in the braille code. We caught up with Dean to find out more about the project, as well as the person behind it, just after it launched. We didn't manage to bring the interview to you at the time, but thought we'd bring it to you now. To contact Dean, please email topdot@gmail.com. In other braille news: The UKAAF AGM has been moved online The ICEB General Assembly has been postponed to the week of 19 October Visit www.bra

This episode features the last of the content that we recorded at the recent Sight Village South East exhibition. Namely, a seminar from the Braillists Foundation entitled "Making the Case for Braille in the 21st Century", the notes from which are included below. We also present a comprehensive demonstration of the Braille Screen Input feature on iOS. Chapter markers have been inserted throughout this episode to aid navigation. Making the Case for Braille in the 21st Century Abstract Braille is difficult to learn. Braille is expensive to teach. Braille is irrelevant now that we have assistive technology. Statements like these are all too familiar, but are they really true? In this seminar, we provide an alternative perspective by outlining the inherent advantages of braille and exploring practical applications of braille in modern day life. Outcome Attendees will become positive advocates of braille in their day-to-day lives and be equipped with the knowledge to be able to effectively champion braille in bo

This episode features a couple of interviews that we recorded at the recent Sight Village South East exhibition. We also hear one person's perspective on the ElBraille. Jenny Axler, Technical Support Manager at Hims and Stuart Lawler, Manager of Sight & Sound Ireland, join us to discuss the BrailleSense Polaris and Polaris Mini, QBraille XL, and the fifth generation Focus line of braille displays from Freedom Scientific. Sean Randall from New College Worcester was loaned an ElBraille in 2017, to be tested by himself and his students. His thoughts were captured in this interview which, in spite of being a few years old and based on an older model of the product, is still broadly relevant. For a snapshot of ElBraille as it was in 2017, listen to episode 141 of the FSCast podcast, or for a demonstration of the 5th generation version, listen to episode 16 of the Sight & Sound Technology Podcast. Finally, Liam Smyth from Bristol Braille Technology CIC brings us the exciting news that Canute 360 is n

4 January is Louis Braille's birthday (he would have been 211 this year if he was still alive). It's no coincidence, then, that, since 2019, the United Nations has formally celebrated this date as "World Braille Day", an international day of observance "... to raise awareness of the importance of Braille as a means of communication in the full realization of the human rights for blind and partially sighted people." In spite of its recency, it already feels firmly established in the calendars of the sight loss industry, attracting a great deal of online publicity this year. Perhaps that's because, for many, the significance of Louis Braille's birthday predates the UN's intervention: organisations in the United States of America have observed National Braille Literacy MOnth in January since at least 2011, and Royal Blind's National Braille Week in the UK was held in the week containing 4 January until 2013. (It's now held in the second week in October to coincide with the International Agency for the Prevention

We hear from Kristina Salceanu, founder of Advent Of Change about their braille advant calendar. It's available for £29.95 online via both Advent of Change and John Lewis and it's also available at John Lewis's Oxford Street store.

We're back! And we start our new series with an overview of the braille landscape, including: Royal Blind's resources for National Braille Week (7 to 13 October 2019) The seventh General Assembly of the International Council on English Braille, 11 to 15 May 2020 at the Google Academy in central London, in particular the call for papers. Braille On Display updated for 2020 Lego Braille Bricks and accessible instructions Mattel Braille Uno (also available from RNIB) Advent Of Change braille advent calendar Sight Village Southeast, 5 and 6 November 2019

In this episode, we talk with Holly Scott-Gardner about studying Spanish, living abroad and the impact of braille on these pursuits. we also discuss: RNIB released the Orbit Reader 20 in the UK (product code HT358) on 8 August for £449, or £399 for Connect members. AFB Accessworld Review of the Brailliant BI-14: HumanWare's Latest Step Toward Smart Braille Displays Apple iOS 12 introduces quick navigation in braille in web pages. To assign keys, go to Settings General Accessibility VoiceOver Braille (the name of your braille display) / More Info Braille Command Navigation Borivali has become the first railway station in mumbai with braille-friendly platform indicators Paper presented at the 4th General Assembly of the International Council on English Braille entitled "Considerations for Embosser Produced Tactile Graphics": MS Word and Duxbury Braille National Braille Week is organised by Royal Blind and runs in the second week of October, coinciding with World Sight Day. Sig

Where do new Braille signs come from? Who decides? Do we need a new Braille file format? We hear from James Bowden, a highly regarded Braille Specialist with RNIB. James is a member of the UK Association for Accessible Formats (UKAAF) and represents the UK on the International Councel on English Braille (ICEB), which met at ChildVision">, the National Education Centre for Blind Children in Ireland, this April for its mid-term executive meeting. We discuss the new sign for a tick, requirements for reading electronic braille files and the 2018 Braille Essay Writing Contest. Braille resources from RNIB (Call 0303 123 9999) BrailleMe Canute Braille eReader Orbit Reader 20