Author: Matthew Horspool

200 Years of the Braille System – From Slate to Display

The 11th World Blindness Summit recently concluded in São Paulo, Brazil. This session took place on 2 September 2025, the first day of proceedings.

From the Programme

PLENARY SESSION 1: 09:00 – 10:30
Session Number: P1
Venue: Dorina Nowill Auditorium
Session Moderator: Yaw Ofori Debra

Speakers:

  • Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame, Ghana; Martine Abel-Williamson, New Zealand – Launching a Braille Literacy Campaign – More Braille, More Empowerment.
  • Regina Fátima Caldeira de Oliveira, Brazil – BRAILLE, YES, because reading is essential!
  • Frances Gentle, Australia – Braille in the Digital Age: Integration of Tactile Literacy and Artificial Intelligence and Assistive Technologies
  • Márcia Noronha de Mello, Brazil – The Braille System and the Advancement of Technologies as a Tool for Inclusion

Watch the Session

The session is available as part of the YOuTube stream for day 2, starting approximately 22 minutes from the start. It lasts approximately 90 minutes.

Watch the stream from the start of the Braille200 session

Braille Research Makes 3-Minute Thesis Competition

Aasha Rose has been working towards a PhD focussed on braille literacy and quality of life at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. As part of this, she has had the opportunity to submit to the 3-minute thesis (3MT) competition.

You can watch her presentaition on YouTube here: Does braille literacy impact quality of life?

The competition has a People’s Choice Award. If you would like to vote for Aasha’s presentation to win that award, simply like it on YouTube. Voting closes 12 September at 5:00pm.

Important Survey for Users of the Mantis, Chameleon, Monarch, PageBlaster/PicsBlaster, Polly and other Braille Products from APH

2025 Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Satisfaction Survey

Attention: All Users of APH Products! If you have purchased APH products and services to use in education or rehabilitation settings, we want to hear from you!

This brief survey is conducted annually and is designed to accomplish several key goals:

  • Give users an opportunity to share their experiences with APH products and services.
  • Help us coordinate priorities and improve our product development processes.
  • Collect performance data as required by the federal Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA).

Follow the link below to complete the survey and learn more.

All individual responses will remain confidential. Your feedback about our performance and product effectiveness DOES make a difference.

Survey response deadline is Friday, October 10.

Start the 2025 GPRA Survey

eBraille 1.0 has Launched!

A digital reading format for braille publications, eBraille focuses on adapting braille for reading in refreshable braille displays with different line lengths. Using an EPUB 3-compatible file set based on the Open Web Platform — using technologies such as XHTML and CSS — to encode braille in semantically enhanced markup and allow it to adapt to the different capabilities of braille reading devices. The file set is designed for both packaged distribution to end users and deployment to the web for online and downloadable reading.

Composed of 91 people throughout the blindness or low vision field, the eBraille Working Group represented more than 50 organizations in 16 different countries.

Read this article to learn more about eBraille 1.0

Introducing I Love Braille and I Learn Braille

The East Bay Center for the Blind in Berkeley, California in 2021 launched Learn-at-Home” braille initiative allowing blind and visually impaired individuals to learn braille on their own. The Center provides this braille education tuition-free and it’s available for all adults all over the world. Any adult interested in learning braille can fill out our online enrollment application and receive the course materials as “free matter for the blind”. Use this link to fil out our enrollment form.

In addition to offering braille courses, we also run two weekly webinars promoting braille literacy, each on Thursdays and Fridays.  Our Thursday webinar is called “I Love Braille”, in which, participants discuss braille-related issues at all levels. Our Friday session titled “I Learn Braille” are especially geared to helping beginner learners. We allow participants practice braille letters and words with lots of fun activities. WE have received positive and encouraging feedbacks for these zoom meetings. These webinars are available all over the world for all, blind or sighted, who would like to login. Episodes of both webinars are also archived on our web site.

Here are the links to login:

For more information, send your email at: [email protected].

Open Awards for Disabled Artists Announced

Unlimited is offering ten awards totalling £413,000 to disabled artists across England, Scotland, and Wales – now open for applications.

With amounts ranging from £15,000 to £80,000, these commissioning awards will support the creation of extraordinary new work in artforms including theatre, dance, music, visual arts, literature, and combined arts.

Authors who write their literature in braille are welcome to apply.

Find out more.

Braille Out and About, Tuesday at 7:30 PM

As we approach the end of the summer term, many of us are preparing for time away from home. Whether you’re going on a long holiday abroad or something more local, there’s bound to be some braille somewhere.

In this masterclass, prolific traveller Connor Scott-Gardner will share his experiences of where he has found braille on his travels and what steps he has taken to prepare himself to make the most of it.

Register for the Masterclass here.

To join by phone, please use these details:

  • Phone number: 0131 460 1196
  • Meeting ID: 834 7980 2001
  • Passcode: 123456

Reminder: Sight Village Central

Don’t forget to come and see Chantelle, Matthew and others from the Braillists team at Sight Village Central on Monday (10:00 AM-4:00 PM) and Tuesday (9:30 AM-3:30 PM).

Further Information and Free Registration

Address: Eastside Rooms Conference Centre, Woodcock Street, Birmingham, B7 4BL

Braillists Stand: table 56, isle 5.

Other Exhibitors of Interest

  • All Formats Transcription Services, for your braille transcription needs
  • ClearVision Project, children’s books in simultaneous braille and print
  • Dolphin Computer Access Ltd, developers of Easy Converter, which produces a wide variety of accessible formats including braille
  • HumanWare, for the BrailleNote Touch Plus, Mantis Q40, Brailliant BI20X and BI40X, Monarch, and Tactile View software, Zychem products and Index and Enabling braille embossers
  • jw.org, producers of braille resources for Jehovah’s Witnesses
  • Professional Vision Services, distributors of the B.Book and B.Note from Eurobraille and the Braillex series from Papenmeier
  • Sight and Sound Technology, for Focus braille displays, the BrailleSense 6 and 6 mini, Braille EMotion, QBraille XL, Orbit Slate 340 and 520, Canute 360 and Canute Console, Braille Doodle, Hable One, Paige Connect, TactiPad, Pictures IN A Flash and ViewPlus braille embossers
  • Torch Trust, producers of braille resources for blind christians
  • VisionAid Technologies Ltd, for the DotPad, Activator/Activator Pro and other products from Help Tech, Tactonom tactile graphics tablet, and the Logickeyboard Braille Keyboard

Seminars

  • Tactile Tactics to Bolster your Braille, Seminar Room 1, Monday at 1:35 PM and Tuesday at 1:45 PM
  • Celebrating 200 Years of Braille: Past, Present, and Future, Seminar Room 1, Monday at 2:15 PM and Tuesday at 9:45 AM

Braille and Beer

Hosted by Bristol Braille Technology at: Sacks of Potatoes, 10 Gosta Green, Birmingham B4 7ER (just a 4-minute walk from the Sight Village venue), Monday at 4:30 PM.

For more details on any of the above, visit our News page or check out last week’s Newsletter.