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.
California State University of Northridge held their 33rd International Conference on Technology and Disability in San Diego this March. Braillecast made a whistle stop tour of the exhibit hall to discover what new braille and tactile reading products could be making waves in 2018.
In this episode we hear from Scott Davert from the US. Scott is a braille advocate and deafblind specialist and sits on the Disability Advisory Committee of the Federal Communications Commission. As well as this, he actively promotes braille in the Applevis community, and has recently written a series of braille display reviews which have been published by Accessworld from the American Foundation for the Blind. In the UK, his expertise are shared through the RNIB Connect website. The conversation covers a wide range of braille issues including the state of braille, quality control issues faced by blind students, and a round-up of some recent braille products.
Paul Sullivan of the Bristol Braillists speaks with Alan Thorpe from EYECAN about manual braille writing equipment. Alan shares tips on caring for your Perkins Brailler and how the design has endured for over half a century.
We also discover other historic Braille Writing machines including Pike Glouser, a British machine from the first half of the 20th century.
EyeCan http://www.eyecan.org.uk/
History of the Perkins Brailler http://www.perkins.org/assets/downloads/research/history-of-brailler-11-17-09.pdf
Braillists Foundation http://www.Braillists.org
In this episode, we have a detailed chat about the Orbit Reader 20, the long-awaited and eagerly-anticipated low-cost Braille electronic reading device.
In Braille News:
a variety of discounts and pricing information due to site village:
The European Parliament approved a new Copyright motion on July 7, eliminating the need for permission from publishers to be sought before making accessible copies of their written works.
Dave Williams and guests catch up with all the latest news from last month’s UKAAF AGM, explore issues facing blind students needing Braille in higher education, and we debate the value of the survey from the International Council on English Braille.
Apple have released the first public beta of iOS 11 with some welcome enhancements for Braille users. CoolBlindTech have been finding out what’s new. iOS 11 is expected to be officially released in the autumn.
A Harvord graduate has invented a new device to help teach Braille to children. The Read Read by Alex Tavares uses tactile and speech feedback with movable Braille “tiles”.
July is the height of exhibition season in North America and Europe with 3 major conferences offering manufacturers the chance to showcase their developments. Please email us at [email protected] with anything you’ve seen, want to see or heard about.
This is Episode2 of Braillecast. Thank you for listening!
Our host Dave Williams discusses the BrailleNote Touch, interviewing several teaching assistants at schools in the UK where the Touch is used. He talks to Greg Stilson from Humanware about the product.
In Braille News
As of the Windows 10 Creators Update, Braille support is now built directly into Microsoft Windows. See using Narrator with Braille in the user guide
Humanware have announced the Brailliant BI14, scheduled for release at the end of June.
The UK Association for accessible Formats/UKAAF will be holding its conference and AGM on Wednesday, 15th June. This year, The entire day is open to anyone with an interest in accessible formats.
The Braille Legacy musical highlighted last month has divided opinion amongst theatre critics. Contact us on twitter @braillecast, or by email on news at braillecast.com if you have seen it, or just have an opinion of your own to share.
This is Episode 1 of Braillecast, a Podcast produced by and for Braillists everywhere.
Our host Dave Williams interviews Megan Paul. Megan’s essay, “The Bumpy Road”, won the Junior category of the 2016 Onkyo Braille essay competition. In this chat over a cup of tea, Dave talks to her about the essay and her views on Braille more widely.
In Braille news:
The world premiere of a musical entitled “The Braille Legacy” is being staged at the Charing Cross Theatre London until Saturday 24 June. Directed by Tom Southerland and starring West End star Jérôme Pradon, it depicts the life of Louis Braille. There will be two audio described performances on the afternoon of 27th May& the evening of Monday 29th May. To find out more, follow @braillelegacy on Twitter or contact the theatre box office on 02079258040 or by email at [email protected].
The RNIB in the UK and other blindness organisations around the world are accepting entries for the annual Onkyo Braille essay competition. This year’s themes include “Amusing stories about Braille” and “The future of Braille”, and cash prizes of up to $2,000 USD are available. download an entry pack in the UK by visiting the RNIB.
Apple recently released iOS 10.3 with a number of Braille fixes, notably better focus within the Mail and news apps when using Braille displays, and stability improvements for the Focus models. Some iOS users are still reporting connectivity issues with certain Braille display manufacturers, specifically the EuroBraille offerings.
A year after the initial release of the BrailleNote Touch, HumanWare have released KeySoft version 3.0 with better document-switching, extra voices and more Braille tables.
Baum VarioUltra customers can now download a public beta of firmware version 1.4 which includes initial support for Unified English Braille translation along with other bug fixes.
And finally, RNIB have moved their “Wear Dots… Raise Lots” month from October to May. The month seeks to improve awareness of braille whilst raising money for RNIB. They are now sending out fundraising packs on request.
