Welcome to the Braillists

Latest News

  • Braille Bar on Tuesday
    Our popular Braille Bar returns on Tuesday at 7:30 PM. No registration required – just turn up and ask your braille questions. Join the Braille Bar here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88035088878?pwd=NHdkR2s1aDZsV1RCUmpQNWh3YWNaQT09
  • Apologies for Masterclass Registration Issues

    We wish to apologise to anyone who received a “registration closed” error whilst attempting to register for our Computer Braille Masterclass last week.

    During the weekend of 18 September, Zoom introduced a new feature to limit the maximum number of registrants for a meeting. This appears to have been toggled on for all meetings by default, with a limit equivalent to the maximum number of participants allowed on the host account. Since not everyone attends every session, there are more people registered for our Masterclasses than the maximum number of allowed participants, and hence no further registrations were being accepted. Unfortunately, however, Zoom did not inform us of this change and we only identified the issue yesterday afternoon.

    We have now reverted the change and disabled registration limits for our Masterclasses. We have subsequently tested the registration page and everything appears to be working as normal again.

    We will publish the recording of the Computer Braille Masterclass no later than Monday 4 October 2021, and would encourage everyone who was unable to register to visit the Media page or subscribe to the Braillecast podcast to obtain this recording.

    Once again, please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused, and rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to ensure that such problems do not occur again in the future.

  • A Message From Capita: We are now accepting applications for braille markers

    Capita is a delivery partner of the Department for Education’s Standards and Testing Agency; with the responsibility to manage the administration and processing for primary school national curriculum assessment tests in England. We are looking to recruit a number of braille and transcriber markers to mark key stage 1 and 2 tests scripts in May and June 2022.

    Joining this year’s cohort of key stage 1 and 2 markers provides a great opportunity for professional development and can foster better understanding of the national curriculum test processes and procedures.

    Markers will be paid for their time and be able to work remotely: You must have the following qualifications an experience to be eligible to apply:

    • Relevant qualification in Unified English Braille;
    • have qualified teacher status with a minimum of one full academic year’s teaching (preferably at primary school).

    To find out more and apply, please complete a short online expression of interest, by 31 December at: https://capita-sta.co.uk/

The Braillists is a grass-roots community group connecting Braille readers with Braille technology developers and funders.

Braille is a simple code for representing written language. Almost anyone can learn the Braille alphabet and numbers in under an hour.

We believe Braille has the potential to transform the life of any blind person who has the opportunity to learn it.

Our Aims

  1. Promote the value of Braille as a proven literacy tool that enriches the lives of blind people.
  2. Support efforts to make affordable Braille and tactile reading technologies available to all blind people irrespective of education and employment status.
  3. Provide an open forum for the exchange of ideas about the development of future Braille technology.

Join our announcements only mailing list to receive occasional newsletters.

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).

Resources

Please see our Sponsors and Partners for information on organisations who are supporting us.