What is the Hable One Challenge?
The Hable One Challenge as a promotional offer delivered in partnership with Hable, the Braillists Foundation and Sight and Sound Technology. Participants will receive a Hable One Bluetooth braille controller on free short-term loan and will be allowed to use it without restriction during the loan period. In return, a number of challenge activities will be set throughout the loan period which participants will be expected to complete to the best of their ability.
Who can participate in the Challenge?
Challenge participants must meet all of the following criteria:
- Blind or partially sighted
- An individual, I.E. not representing an organisation
- Resident in the UK or Ireland
- Aged 18 or over on the date of the orientation event (see below)
I participated in last year’s Hable One Challenge with Sight and Sound Technology, can I participate in this one too?
Not at first. We expect demand for this Challenge to be extremely high and wish to offer the opportunity to participate to those who have never encountered Hable One before.
If there are any spaces left towards the end of the signup period, we will extend the entry criteria to include those who participated last year. Please subscribe to the Braillists Newsletter, where further announcements will be published.
Sight and Sound Technology will be processing signups for the Challenge and will cross check signups against previous Challenge participant lists to ensure there are no duplicates.
Can I participate if I already own a Hable One?
No. As stated above, we expect demand for this Challenge to be extremely high and wish to offer the opportunity to participate to those who have never encountered Hable One before.
Existing Hable One users who require technical support in the use of their product, or who need their product repaired, should contact Sight and Sound for assistance.
Sight and Sound Technology will be processing signups for the Challenge and will cross check signups against customer data to ensure there are no duplicates.
What is the deadline for signing up?
All signups must be received by 09:00 AM on Wednesday 15 March.
Is there a maximum number of participants?
The Challenge is limited to 60 participants in total. This has been divided into three cohorts, with a maximum of 20 participants in each one:
- People who sign up by 09:00 AM on Wednesday 15 February will be considered for cohort 1, and if successful will receive their Hable One Challenge units on or before Thursday 23 February
- People who sign up by 09:00 AM on Wednesday 1 March will be considered for cohort 2, and if successful will receive their Hable One Challenge units on or before Thursday 9 March
- People who sign up by 09:00 AM on Wednesday 15 March will be considered for cohort 3, and if successful will receive their Hable One Challenge units on or before Thursday 23 March
If there are more signups than places in each cohort, how will Challenge participants be selected?
We wish to offer the Challenge units to people who will benefit from them most. There is an opportunity on the signup form for you to describe how you will use the Hable One and what benefit it will bring, and this will influence our participant selection.
The participant selection will be made by representatives from Hable and will be final.
If there is a tie in the selection process, candidates in the tie will be selected on a first come, first served basis.
People who are not selected for cohort 1 may be put forward for selection in cohort 2, and people who are not selected for cohorts 1 and 2 may be put forward for selection in cohort 3. There is no need to complete a separate signup form for each cohort.
Can I request to be put in a specific cohort, or swap cohorts part way through?
Not usually, but if you have a specific reason for making such a request, please email [email protected]. We will consider all requests of this nature on a case by case basis.
What happens after I sign up?
Sight and Sound Technology will contact you by email on or before 21 March to inform you whether or not you have been selected.
If you have been selected, Sight and Sound will arrange delivery of your Hable One Challenge unit in the same email. If they are unable to reach you by email, they will contact you by telephone.
Your mobile number will be added to a private WhatsApp group, which will include the other participants in your cohort and representatives from Hable, the Braillists Foundation and Sight and Sound Technology. If you did not include your mobile number when you signed up, Sight and Sound Technology will contact you by email or telephone to obtain it. If they are unable to obtain your mobile number or you do not accept the invitation to the WhatsApp group, your entry will be withdrawn from the Challenge and your place will be offered to someone else. Membership of the WhatsApp group is a requirement for participating in the Challenge.
What happens when I receive my Hable One?
Shortly after you receive your Hable One, you will be invited to join an online orientation session on Zoom. This will be hosted by Sight and Sound Technology and delivered by representatives from Hable with support from the Braillists Foundation.
- For cohort 1, this session will take place on Thursday 23 February at 7:00 PM GMT
- For cohort 2, this session will take place on Thursday 9 March at 7:00 PM GMT
- For cohort 3, this session will take place on Thursday 23 March at 7:00 PM GMT
The challenge activities for each cohort will commence immediately after the orientation event for that cohort.
If I can’t attend the orientation event, will it be recorded so I can catch up afterwards?
Yes. However, we encourage you to join the event live if at all possible, as it will give you an opportunity to ask any questions you may have and meet your fellow Challenge participants.
Can you tell me more about the WhatsApp group?
The WhatsApp group will be the primary means of communication throughout the Challenge. It will be used by Hable, Sight and Sound Technology and Braillists Foundation representatives to communicate with Challenge participants, and Challenge participants can use it to communicate with each other. There will be a separate WhatsApp group for each cohort.
- Hable representatives will post the challenge activities as and when they arise, and will be on hand to provide technical support
- Sight and Sound Technology representatives will assist Hable with technical support, and answer logistics enquiries
- Braillists Foundation representatives will assist with questions related to the braille code
You are encouraged to provide peer support to others in your cohort via the WhatsApp group in terms of completing the challenge activities, using the Hable One and improving your braille.
You are asked not to private message individual members of the WhatsApp group or save their contact details unless they have granted their permission for you to do so. Representatives from Hable, Sight and Sound Technology and the Braillists Foundation will carefully monitor this, and participants who abuse the WhatsApp group will be removed from the group and withdrawn from the Challenge. They will consequently forfeit their right to any prizes or discounts which apply to Challenge participants.
Sections 7-10 of the Guidelines for Posting to the Braillists Forum also apply to the WhatsApp group, and breaches of these guidelines will result in removal from the WhatsApp group and withdrawal from the Challenge as described above.
What will the challenge activities involve?
The challenge activities will simulate a number of short, straightforward, everyday activities such as writing a few sentences about what you did last weekend or writing a couple of paragraphs about why you started learning braille. You will be expected to use the Hable One to complete these challenge activities, and additional criteria may be imposed on an activity by activity basis, e.g. which apps can be used to complete the challenge activity.
Participants are required to record themselves attempting all of the challenge activities, in either video or audio format, for use in future marketing and promotional material from Hable, Sight and Sound Technology and/or the Braillists Foundation. These recordings may be posted to the WhatsApp group or emailed to [email protected]. If you are not comfortable recording yourself attempting the challenge activities or being included in future marketing material, you should not sign up for the Challenge.
Technical support to produce the video or audio recordings may be sought through the WhatsApp group. If the matter is complex, a representative from Hable or Sight and Sound Technology may contact you privately to resolve it.
How long will the challenge activities take?
We do not expect the individual challenge activities to take any longer than three hours to complete. This includes preparation and practice time, attempting the challenge activity whilst being recorded, and uploading the finished recording.
The challenge activities will all be issued over a period of around two weeks, with a maximum of one challenge activity per day:
- Cohort 1 should complete the entire Challenge no later than 9:00 AM on Friday 10 March
- Cohort 2 should complete the entire Challenge no later than 9:00 AM on Friday 24 March
- Cohort 3 should complete the entire Challenge no later than 9:00 AM on Friday 7 April
What happens at the end of the Challenge?
At the end of each cohort, representatives from Hable will review all of the video and audio recordings submitted by the participants in that cohort and score them based on their level of fun, creativity and ambitiousness.
The recording with the highest aggregate score in each cohort will be declared the winner, and the participant who submitted it will immediately take ownership of their Hable One Challenge unit at no charge.
The winner from each cohort will be announced in that cohort’s WhatsApp group:
- The winner from cohort 1 will be announced by 9:00 AM on Monday 13 March
- The winner from cohort 2 will be announced by 9:00 AM on Monday 27 March
- The winner from cohort 3 will be announced by 9:00 AM on Monday 10 April
The remaining participants will be contacted by Sight and Sound Technology shortly after the winner from their cohort has been announced and invited to either purchase their Hable One Challenge unit or return it to Sight and Sound Technology. We ask that:
- Payments and returns from cohort 1 are completed by Friday 17 March
- Payments and returns from cohort 2 are completed by Friday 31 March
- Payments and returns from cohort 3 are completed by Friday 14 April
If you are likely to be unable to complete payment or return by the dates specified above, please alert Sight and Sound Technology at the earliest opportunity so that alternative arrangements can be discussed.
What if there is a mix of ability levels in each cohort – won’t the most advanced person have an unfair advantage?
We ask prospective participants to self-certify their ability level on the signup form, and will try to limit each cohort to people of similar abilities. In particular, cohort 1 is specifically aimed at people who are new to braille. However, we recognise that there will inevitably be some people in each cohort who are more advanced that others.
When deciding the winner, representatives from Hable will be judging the video and audio clips and not the participants. You are invited to show yourself attempting the challenge activities as naturally as possible in your video or audio clips and, although we do not expect any of the challenge activities to be insurmountable, failure to complete one or more of them will not automatically lessen your chances of winning the Challenge. Footage of the activity being attempted in a slow, steady manner is just as valuable as footage of it being completed quickly.
Will I need to do anything if I win a free Hable One?
The winners from each cohort will be contacted by either Hable or Sight and Sound Technology for a short video interview, which will be conducted remotely and recorded. Content from this interview may be used in future marketing material, and all or part of the interview may be published in written form by Hable, Sight and Sound Technology and/or the Braillists Foundation.
If I don’t win a free Hable One, will I be given a discount off the purchase price?
Unfortunately we are not able to offer discounted units to Challenge participants.
Will there be a cost to participate?
There is no financial cost to participate in the Hable One Challenge. However, you will be required to:
- Consent to your mobile number being added to a WhatsApp group which will include other Challenge participants and representatives from Hable, Sight and Sound Technology and the Braillists Foundation
- Provide video or audio recordings of yourself attempting the challenge activities
- Consent to such video or audio recordings being used in future marketing material from Hable, Sight and Sound Technology and/or the Braillists Foundation.