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Braille artist Clarke Reynolds is registered as severely sight-impaired and uses Braille as an artistic medium. He describes his art as “Seeing Without Seeing”. Not only can the art be seen but it can also be touched, making it accessible to visually impaired people.

Mr. Reynolds is exhibiting at the Quantus Gallery in London from 11th to 28th January. The weekday opening times are 10am to 6pm but we have no information on the weekend opening times. There is free entry and no need to book ahead.

The Quantus Gallery is located at 11 – 29 Fashion Street, Spitalfields, London E1 6PX as part of the Rafael Viroly Architects premises.

Mr. Reynolds’ seeingwithoutseeing.com website provides information about future exhibitions and images of past projects, as well as information about his artistic journey from dream to realisation.

Happy new year from all of us at the Braillists Foundation. We hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas.

As you are doubtless already aware, Wednesday 4 January is World Braille Day, celebrating the birthday of Louis Braille, and we have two exciting events taking place:

• Six Dots to Success, in collaboration with Sight and Sound Technology Ltd, 9:15 AM to 12:45 PM
  A keynote from Peter White at the BBC, a panel discussion in association with the UK Association for Accessible Formats, and three breakout rooms focussing on braille at school, braille in higher education/employment and braille for leisure. There’s something here for everyone!
• Braille Technology Throughout the Ages, 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
  Historians, industry experts and researchers ponder the braille technology of the past, present and future.

Click on the links above to register for each event. If you have any problems, please email [email protected]. We may not reply quickly, but we guarantee to be able to register you in time for the event.

The UKAAF webinar on Tuesday 3rd January will be the first in the series for 2023.

We will be joined by Matthew Horspool, from Braillists Foundation, to discuss the subject is: A Passion for Braille.

Matthew has been Braille Subject Lead for the UK Association for Accessible Formats since November 2020. A life-long braillist himself, his professional career started in a school for the blind, where he worked as a braille transcriber and teacher of technical braille codes. As Braille Subject Lead, he works closely with our two braille groups and external stakeholders, including the International Council on English Braille, the DAISY EBraille Working Group and a variety of local, regional and national organisations. Professionally, he is General Manager at Braillists Foundation.

Please Click here to complete the registration link and reserve your place.

The Braille Authority of Slovakia have produced a 14-minute video highlighting some of the issues faced by blind people and promoting the value of braille. You can watch it here.

In our last Masterclass before the Christmas break, we’re delighted that Kim Charlson, Executive Director of the Perkins Library (part of Perkins School for the Blind), will be joining us again. Kim is author of the book “Drawing with your Perkins Brailler”, which includes step-by-step directions for creating 36 different drawings including shapes, animals and subjects with holiday and transportation themes.

In this Tuesday’s session, she will use Christmas-themed drawings to explain the concepts behind using braille cells to create pictures. Bring a Perkins and some paper and follow along and, by the end of the session, you will have your very own festive pictures made entirely of braille dots!

And don’t worry: if you came to Kim’s excellent session last year, this year’s pictures are brand new!

Register for our Masterclass with Kim charlson here.

To join by phone, please use these details:

• Phone number: 0131 460 1196
• Meeting ID: 824 7645 2710
• Passcode: 123456

World Braille Day Conference from The Braillists Foundation and Sight and Sound Technology.

• 4th January 2023
• 9.15am to 12.45pm
• Online conference, free to attend
• Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIqce6uqDotH93Po0zPwiPhOiiq7WJG3Bbz

Wednesday 4th January is World Braille day, and we are delighted to be hosting our inaugural Braille Conference, in association with Sight and Sound Technology.

During this half-day online event attendees will hear directly from visually impaired people about the continuing need for braille and its potential for improving their educational, employment and leisure opportunities.

Whether you work with teachers, classroom assistants, disability professionals, members of academic staff at a college or university, family members or braille users there’s something here for everyone. Myths and misconceptions will be challenged, questions answered and sources of help and support identified.

The conference will include a keynote address by well-known BBC broadcaster Peter White, as well as panel discussions and workshops, as we explore:

• Braille at school
• Braille in Further/Higher Education and Employment
• Braille for Leisure

The event is free and will take place from 9.15 to 12.45.

Please register here to attend and a detailed programme for the day will be sent to you closer to the time.

In addition to our collaboration with Sight and Sound Technology, we are pleased to present an evening panel discussion for World Braille Day focussing on braille technology: its past, present and future. We will be joined by historians, people working in the braille technology industry today and developers of the next generation of braille hardware and software.

The event will take place on Wednesday 4 January at 7:00 PM, and you will need to register in advance. This is a separate registration link to both our regular Masterclasses and the event with Sight and Sound. Please email [email protected] if you have difficulties completing the form.

Register for the World Braille Day evening event here.

To join by phone, please use these details:

• Phone number: 0131 460 1196
• Meeting ID: 875 3606 7824
• Passcode: 123456

On the morning of world braille day, join us for our inaugural conference celebrating braille in all its forms. Whether you work with teachers, classroom assistants, disability professionals, members of academic staff at a college or university, family members or braille users there’s something here for everyone.

Please register here to attend and a detailed programme for the day will be sent to you closer to the time.

N.B. we apologise to those who attempted to register last week – we accidentally promoted the wrong link! The link above has been corrected and should now work in the usual way. Please email [email protected] if you encounter difficulties.

At its meeting on 11 November 2022, the Board of Trustees was pleased to formally appoint Elaine Cheong to the position of Treasurer. This followed an extensive recruitment campaign both inside and outside the sector. We were particularly impressed with Elaine’s appreciation of and commitment to our mission, and are certain that she will provide valuable knowledge and insight into our financial processes and outcomes.

Elaine writes:

My name is Elaine Cheong. I am originally from Singapore and have been living in the UK for the past 24 years. I came to the UK to complete my ACCA, which stands for Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. In 2016, I decided to go for another professional qualification, this time in Human Resources Management, which was awarded by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Having come from SME and Start-up environments in my career as a Financial Controller, I am very hands-on and have brought Accounting and HR functions in-house – and that include process improvements and system implementations.

I was a Trustee at The Biodynamic Association; all biodynamic farmers and growers practice organic methods of production, and share very similar certification standards. Both also share similar aims and ideals, but biodynamics has metaphysical and spiritual roots that organics does not. On a monthly basis, I casted an eye on the Income & Expenditure Statement as well as the Budget.

I would like to join The Braillists Foundation as a Treasurer because I believe in her Mission: More Braille! In the middle of the Pandemic in January 2021, I bought myself a set of 8 books and CDs from RNIB to learn Dot-to-Dot Braille. I wanted to learn Braille in the event of losing my sight, I can be independent. One of the many interesting things I have discovered about myself while learning Braille is, although I am right-handed, I have to read the braille with my left forefinger … which is great to put my right brain into gear!

I look forward to working with all members of the Board and stakeholders in time to come.

Elaine will take over responsibility for the financial functions of the Braillists from January, and we very much look forward to working with her.

We will be taking our customary break over the Christmas period. The last event of 2022 will be our Book Club on Thursday 22 December, and we will re-open for World Braille Day on Wednesday 4 January 2023.

Enquiries received at our help address will be answered as soon as possible after our return.

We would like to take this opportunity to thannk you all for your engagement with and support of the Braillists during 2022, and to wish everyone a happy Christmas and a prosperous 2023.