Latest News
- NVDA and Braille, Part 3! Tuesday 13 October at 7:30 PM
Recent developments in braille technology have shone a particular spotlight on NVDA, and in our two-part series last month, we explored its braille support in detail. However, there is more to NVDA than the core screen reader:
Through the use of add-ons, users can benefit from a range of optional NVDA features which have been created by the community. Many add-ons are free and include extra voices, enhancements to existing NVDA functionality, accessibility improvements for specific applications, and new features altogether.
In this session, we will introduce the NVDA Add-On store and demonstrate two braille-related add-ons, PC Braille Keyboard Input and Braille Extender.
To join by phone, please use these details:
- Phone number: 0131 460 1196
- Meeting ID: 811 6921 7374
- Passcode: 123456
- HumanWare’s Drop-In Dates for This Week – Come in Person, you Might Win a Brailliant BI20X!
HumanWare is hosting a series of drop-in events across the UK in partnership with regional and national sight loss organisations.
These events offer a fantastic opportunity to get hands-on experience with HumanWare’s complete Braille product range. A HumanWare representative will be available at each location to demonstrate our latest solutions and answer any questions you may have.
Featured products include:
- Brailliant BI 20X – our compact and portable Braille display
- BrailleNote Evolve – a powerful note-taking and productivity solution
- Monarch – the world’s first dynamic multi-line Braille device, capable of displaying up to ten lines of Braille simultaneously and presenting both text and tactile graphics on the same display
Everyone who attends one of the events in person will be entered into a free prize draw to win a brand-new Brailliant BI 20X.
Here are the events coming up this week:
Monday 12 October
- 2:00-4:00 pm: Braille IT, Clitheroe Library, BB7 2DG
Wednesday 14 October
- 9:30-11:30 am: Sight Support Worthing, BN11 3JT
- 10:00 am-12:00 pm: Walthew House, Stockport, SK2 6QS
- 10:30 am-1:00 pm: Sight Support Derbyshire, DE22 1BP
- 2:00-4:00 pm: Croydon Vision, CR0 2AR
- 2:00-4:00 pm: My Sight Nottinghamshire, 26-28 Heathcoat Street, Nottingham, NG1 3AA
Thursday 15 October
- 9:30-11:30 am: Vision Norfolk, NR3 3DZ
- 10:30 am-12:30 pm: Bradbury Fields, Liverpool, L14 2EP
- 1:30-3:30 pm: Suffolk Sight, IP1 3BE
- 2:00-4:00 pm: Somerset Sight, Taunton, TA1 1DG
Friday 16 October
- 9:30-11:30 am: Coventry Vision Hub, CV5 6TH
- 10:30 am-12:00 pm: Dagenham & Redbridge Adult Group
- 1:30-3:30 pm: Bucks Vision, HP19 9HH
- Webinar from HumanWare: BrailleNote Evolve Series, Tuesday 13 October at 5:00 PM
Join HumanWare Blindness Product Specialists, Joel and Rachel, as they present a series of webinars walking through the BrailleNote Evolve’s familiar interface, and new and improved menus. Guided by your questions, they will demonstrate the device in a friendly and easy-to-follow manner, so you can see first-hand how the BrailleNote Evolve will fit into your life, and you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it!
- From Dot: Supercharge Your Screen Reader Support for Multiline Braille and Tactile Graphics, Wednesday 14 October at 5:00 PM
Discover how new screen reader tools from Dot transform documents, code, tables, charts and equations into tactile information.
If you use a screen reader, you already know how much effort can go into building a picture of what is on screen – one line, one cell or one element at a time.
We will demonstrate a different way to work: the new Tactile Display API for Dot Pad, with enhanced support in JAWS and NVDA.
This live session is designed to show the experience, not simply describe the technology. We will move through familiar Windows applications and demonstrate how multiline braille, tactile graphics and structured information can sit beneath your fingertips while you continue using the screen reader tools you know.
What changes for you?
Keep more context in view. Choose six, eight or ten lines, so you can read more information at once and spend less time panning.
Understand layout through touch. Explore tables, structured documents, code and diagrams as spatial information rather than a sequence of disconnected items.
Make maths and data more immediate. Feel graphs created from Microsoft Word equations or MathML, and identify trends or spikes in tactile charts from Excel.
Choose the mode that helps you read. Use braille or a hybrid braille-and-tactile-print mode to support recognition of unfamiliar characters.
Collaborate more easily. With Dot Pad Display Viewer, a sighted colleague, teacher or trainer can see the dots beneath your fingers on screen and follow the same material with you.
Who should join?
The webinar is for blind and low-vision users, educators, accessibility professionals, developers, distributors and anyone exploring better access to multiline braille and tactile graphics.
Whether you want a faster way to navigate dense material or are considering an integration for your own product, you will see where the API can make a practical difference.
The webinar includes approximately 40 minutes of demonstration followed by a live Q&A.
- From the DAISY Consortium: Help shape the future of accessible mathematics for people with print disabilities
The DAISY Consortium is seeking views from those who produce, teach, transcribe or use accessible mathematical content, as well as technology developers who wish to support accessible mathematics.
MathCAT is changing what’s possible. This free, open-source library enables mathematical content to be delivered in existing technologies as high-quality speech and braille, with intuitive navigation through mathematical expressions. It is already integrated in, or supported by, several leading screen readers, reading apps and production tools worldwide.
We want to hear from you – and we invite you to help shape what happens next.
Get involved:
- Complete the DAISY Survey on Producing and Reading Accessible Mathematics Content 2026
- Discover MathCAT and watch our introductory video, and find out how you can contribute through development, testing, translation, braille expertise or financial support.
- Join the DAISY MathCAT Working Group mailing list
- Learn more about the history and technical details of MathCAT on the GitHub Project Page.
Please share this invitation widely across your networks – together, we can make accessible mathematics available to a much wider global community.
We look forward to hearing from you, and hopefully working with you too!
From the DAISY Consortium
- From Sight Scotland: Have Your Say on Braille and Accessible Food Labelling, Deadline 31 October
The Braille Food Labelling Campaign is asking blind and partially sighted people across the UK about their experiences of food packaging. Medicines have carried braille for years. The campaign wants the product name in braille on food too, alongside a QR code or NaviLens for the full information. The findings will go to Food Standards Scotland and DEFRA as evidence for change. The survey takes around ten minutes and can be completed online, by phone, by email or by post.
Open the online Braille Food Labelling Survey.
Email [email protected] to receive the survey in the accessible format of your choice.
- From RNIB: Free braille copies of M&S Christmas Food magazine and Tesco Festive Food to order
RNIB has recently worked with M&S and Tesco to produce accessible versions of their Christmas Food Magazines. If these publications would be of interest, free braille copies are now available to order from the RNIB Shop. Please use the links below to place an order:
Tesco Festive Food to Order 2026 – braille edition | RNIB Shop
- A New Podcast from the EBU Braille Working Group
The Braille Working Group of the European Blind Union has launched a new podcast, allowing you to catch up with recordings of all of their online events through your podcast client of choice.
The podcast is called: LivingBraille.eu
It is hosted on Spotify and is also available through Apple Podcasts and other clients which support the Apple Podcasts database.
The direct link to the RSS feed is: https://anchor.fm/s/117197108/podcast/rss
We hope you enjoy the podcast!
- From HumanWare: BrailleNote evolve KeySoft first update is here
The first KeySoft update for BrailleNote evolve is here, bringing new ways to connect, work with Braille content and navigate more efficiently.
With the new Braille Terminal app, you can connect your BrailleNote evolve via Bluetooth and use it as a Braille display with iPhone, Mac and Apple TV using VoiceOver, or with Windows PCs using NVDA or JAWS.
Press and hold the Home button to seamlessly switch between your connected device and your last-opened evolve application.
Finding your way through Braille content is now easier. Use Find, Find next and Find previous in BRF files opened in KeyBRF or Victor Reader. KeyBRF also adds new Find and Replace functionality for even more flexibility when working with Braille files.
Updated browse-mode commands help reduce shortcut conflicts when navigating Microsoft applications and web browsers.
Update 1 also includes improvements to Outlook attachments, Braille IME, Braille tables, NVDA, Word, external displays, localisation and overall system reliability.
Get KeySoft Update 1 now:
All apps > KeySoft Control Center > Update all
Then press ENTER to discover everything included in the first KeySoft update for BrailleNote evolve.
- From Ken Perry at APH: Announcing BrailleBlaster 3.2.5
I am pleased to announce the release of BrailleBlaster 3.2.5. For most users BrailleBlaster should update to this latest version. Should you find BrailleBlaster does not auto-update for you, then as usual you may download this release at the brailleblaster.org website. Below is a copy of the release notes outlining what has changed in this release.
BrailleBlaster 3.2.5 Release Notes
Welcome to BrailleBlaster 3.2.5. This release brings updated braille translation and math libraries, and a newer version of Pandoc.
Bug Fixes and Improvements
- Updated the Liblouis braille translation library to version 3.3.90
- Updated the MathCAT math library for improved math braille output.
- Updated Pandoc to 3.11 for improved document importing.
- A number of other minor improvements and bug fixes.
What’s Changed
- Update to pandoc 3.11 by @mwhapples
- Update MathCAT4J-JNI to 0.7.6-rc.4-1 by @mwhapples
- Update Liblouis 3.3.90 by @krperry
Full Changelog
https://github.com/aphtech/brailleblaster/compare/release/3.2.3…release/3.2.5
The Braillists is a grass-roots community group offering high quality training and support to emerging and established braille users. We also work with family members, friends, colleagues and teachers of braille users, and connect braille users with braille technology developers and funders.
Everyone at the Braillists would sincerely like to thank our sponsors and partners.
What Is Braille?
Braille is a simple code for representing written language. We believe braille has the potential to transform the life of any blind person who has the opportunity to learn it.
Discover more about braille on this page.
Learn Braille
We support hundreds of adults to read braille by touch in a few short weeks through our innovative and approachable Braille for Beginners course. Free of charge, it comprises hard copy resources through the post and a series of short pre-recorded lessons, supplemented by email and Zoom support from highly qualified and experienced tutors.
Find out more about Braille for Beginners and register here.
There are plenty of other courses available too, for both children and adults, reading by touch or by sight. We have made a list of these on our Learn Braille page.
Perkins Repairs and Other Braille Equipment
The Perkins Brailler is the most established braille writer in use today, and even machines from the 1950s can still be serviced and repaired. We have compiled information about Perkins repairs, places to purchase Perkins Braillers, and other types of braille equipment on our Braille Equipment page.
If you are looking for braille paper, you can find it on our Braille Consumables page.
Our Aims
- Promote the value of braille as a proven literacy tool that enriches the lives of blind people.
- Support efforts to make affordable braille and tactile reading technologies available to all blind people irrespective of education and employment status.
- Provide an open forum for the exchange of ideas about the development of future braille technology.
Find Out More
Join our announcements only mailing list to receive our weekly newsletter.
Join the conversation and meet other Braillists on our discussion forum.
Connect with us on Twitter (@Braillists) or like us on Facebook for up to the minute Braillists news.
Listen to some braille-related audio on Soundcloud (braillists).
Please see our Sponsors and Partners for information on organisations who are supporting us.
Get In Touch
Email [email protected] or call 020 3893 3392. Further details on our Contact Us page.