News

Do you need an easy way to identify your shampoo from your hair removal cream? Do you want to avoid accidentally feeding dog food to your dinner guests—again? Does your granddaughter complain that you’ve covered up the print label on her favourite midnight snack with your “special dots”?

Our sense of touch can give us much more information about our environment than we may think. Naturally, there’s braille, but how else can we use this powerful tactile sense to make things easier at home and further afield?

In this Masterclass, Matthew Horspool and Chantelle Griffiths join forces to take you on a tactile journey to help you master your sense of touch for the simple, yet powerful purpose of identification and marking.

You will learn:

• How everyday office stationery can save your sanity when travelling.
• How a simple rubber band can turn nightmare neighbours into amicable allies.
• How to use braille in fun and creative ways, even if you’re not yet a confident braillist.
• Why you need to own hair ties, even if you have no hair to tie.
• How texture and orientation work together to create a customisable system for identification that anyone can use.
• And so much more!

Whether you’re newer to sight loss or blind since birth, there’s something here for everyone. Join us to learn how to level up your tactile marking skills, and create unforgettable experiences for yourself and others, for all the right reasons.

The Masterclass will take place on Zoom on Tuesday 16 July at 7:30 PM. In addition, if you are attending Sight Village Central, join Matthew for a sneak preview, where you will be able to get hands on with some of the tools we will be discussing and take home a few things for you to try out during the online session.

The Sight Village session will take place on:

• Monday 8 July at 12:25 PM in room 2
• Tuesday 9 July at 1:45 PM in room 1

Register for the online session here.

To join by phone, please use these details:

• Phone number: 0131 460 1196
• Meeting ID: 821 0787 8790
• Passcode: 123456

“Is that a tin of peaches or a tin of soup? Someone did tell me, but I’ve forgotten!”

If this sounds like you, join us as we discuss and demonstrate low-cost, practical tactile systems to help you independently stay organised around the home. Whether you’ve lived alone for a long time, you’re adjusting to sight loss later in life, or you’ll be off to University in September, there’s something here for you. And who knows? You might even discover a new use for a hair tie!

If you are planning to attend our Masterclass next Tuesday, this session is a must for you! It will give you a head start on the topics we will be exploring at that session.

If you can’t make next week’s Masterclass, come and join us anyway! We will share some tips and tricks that you can use straight away.

More information about Sight Village Central

Book tickets for Sight Village Central

What’s this I hear about dots? That’s a question we’ve been answering for about as long as we’ve been in existence. At Sight and Sound Technology we are passionate about Braille and its potential to transform access to work and education.

We’ve been rather busy since the start of the year, finding what we believe to be the very best new Braille technology in the world! In this seminar, Stuart will lift the lid on what’s been going on and show you the new kids on the block. We think you’ll be as excited as we are when you see what we’ve got!

Presented at Sight Village by Stuart Lawler, Head of Digital Content and Braille Specialist at Sight and Sound Technology

We will be holding our Braille and Beer/Tech Chat Live event a day later than usual this year, on Tuesday 9 July, from 3:30 PM. It will be held in partnership with the Technology Association of Visually Impaired People (TAVIP), and will officially end at 8:00 PM so as to avoid clashing with the first Euro 2024 semi-final.

Braille and Beer will take place at The Gosta Green, Holt Street, Birmingham, B7 4BG, a three-minute (0.1 mile) walk from Sight Village. From The Eastside Rooms, walk north-west for 266 feet, then turn right onto Heneage Street West. Continue straight for 23 feet until you reach Holt Street, then keep walking straight down Holt Street for 459 feet until you encounter the pub on the left.

Contact: Matthew Horspool, 07429 171736

On Monday 8 July, QAC will be holding their own evening celebration of 30 years of Sight Village from 6:30 PM until 11:00 PM at The Eastside Rooms. You are warmly invited to attend and tickets are free, but spaces are limited and booking in advance is essential. If you would like to socialise between the end of Sight Village and the start of the evening event, you will find members of the Braillists Team in the bar at the Aloft Hotel.

More information about the evening event

Book tickets for the evening event

Due to many of our staff attending Sight Village Central, we will not be offering our usual Braille Bar this week. The next Braille Bar will take place on Tuesday 23 July.

Sight and Sound Technology are pleased to announce the following discounts, available for a limited time from the start of Sight Village Central on Monday 8 July 2024:

• 20% off BrailleSense6, BrailleSense6 Mini, QBraille XL, Taptilo and other products from Hims
• 10% off HABLE One
• 10% off Rogue Embosser, Delta Embosser, EmBraille Embosser, SpotDot Embosser, Columbia Embosser and other products from ViewPlus

In addition, get an introductory price of £2,295 on the Hims Braille eMotion (RRP £2,795), plus take an extra 10% off the introductory sale price if you trade in any note taker in working order. Discount applied on receipt of your device.

For more details, please visit the Sight and Sound website.

Selvas BLV is pleased to announce the release of a major upgrade for Braille eMotion, V1.2!

This upgrade adds several electronic library services to the Braille eMotion, including access to BookShare, and an optional Sense Bible. We’ve also added the ability to add individual regional/optional services in the future via the Optional Services Installer, and you can expect to see several more service options by the end of the summer!

This release also adds thumb key navigation through the use of the “cursor” keys as navigation keys, both internally and in the terminal for Screen Reader. In addition, the Braille eMotion can now utilize several UEB Braille learning tables according to published lesson series levels for those learning Braille.

You can visit the Braille eMotion download page for release notes, firmware, and upgrade instructions.

The Braillists will once again be exhibiting at Sight Village Central, taking place on:

• Monday 8 July, 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
• Tuesday 9 July, 9:30 AM-3:30 PM

Attendance is free and pre-registration is encouraged.

In addition to our usual exhibition stand, we will be hosting an interactive workshop entitled: Beyond Bump-Ons: Creative Approaches to Tactile Marking.

“Is that a tin of peaches or a tin of soup? Someone did tell me, but I’ve forgotten!”

If this sounds like you, join us as we discuss and demonstrate low-cost, practical tactile systems to help you independently stay organised around the home. Whether you’ve lived alone for a long time, you’re adjusting to sight loss later in life, or you’ll be off to University in September, there’s something here for you. And who knows? You might even discover a new use for a hair tie!

Beyond Bump-Ons will take place on:

• Monday 8 July, 12:25 PM-12:55 PM, Room 2
• Tuesday 9 July, 1:45 PM-2:15 PM, Room 1

We would highly encourage you to attend this seminar if you can, as it will enable you to make the most of a Masterclass taking place later in July – see next week’s Newsletter for more information.

We will be holding our Braille and Beer/Tech Chat Live event a day later than usual this year, on Tuesday 9 July, from 3:30 PM. It will be held at the Gosta Green pub in partnership with the Technology Association of Visually Impaired People (TAVIP), and will officially end at 8:00 PM so as to avoid clashing with the first Euro 2024 semi-final.

On Monday 8 July, QAC will be holding their own evening celebration of 30 years of Sight Village from 6:30 PM until 11:00 PM at The Eastside Rooms. You are warmly invited to attend and tickets are free, but spaces are limited and booking in advance is essential. If you would like to socialise between the end of Sight Village and the start of the evening event, you will find members of the Braillists Team in the bar at the Aloft Hotel.

Sight Village Central will take place at The Eastside Rooms, 2 Woodcock Street, Birmingham, B7 4BL. It is conveniently located in the heart of Birmingham with excellent access to public transportation and adjacent to two secure parking facilities.

The exhibition will occupy a spacious main area and a smaller adjacent space near the seminar and catering facilities, all conveniently situated on the ground floor and fully accessible. Additionally, the seminar rooms are separate from the exhibition area, ensuring a peaceful environment.

It is adjacent to the Aloft Hotel, a part of the Marriott chain, which is pet-friendly should you wish to bring your furry friend along. For hotel room inquiries, please contact the hotel directly at 0121 820 6000.

Braille and Beer will take place at The Gosta Green, Holt Street, Birmingham, B7 4BG, a three-minute (0.1 mile) walk from Sight Village. From The Eastside Rooms, walk north-west for 266 feet, then turn right onto Heneage Street West. Continue straight for 23 feet until you reach Holt Street, then keep walking straight down Holt Street for 459 feet until you encounter the pub on the left.

Contact: Matthew Horspool, 07429 171736

More information about Sight Village Central

Book tickets for Sight Village Central

More information about the evening event

Book tickets for the evening event

The United Kingdom Association for Accessible Formats(UKAAF) is the official standard-setting body for Braille, Music Braille, Accessible Images, (and other accessible formats) in the UK

Three times a year, it publishes a magazine called “Format Matters”, designed to share updates about UKAAF’s work and highlight exciting news stories in the wider accessible format industry. Anyone can receive the magazine free of charge as a PDF file, and if you live in the UK, you can also opt to receive it in a range of accessible formats in hard copy through the post.

To receive the magazine, you need to join UKAAF as a member – but don’t panic! There is no charge for individuals. The form is very short and can be completed on the UKAAF website.

UKAAF membership form

When prompted, please answer as follows:

• Membership Type: Individual
• Organization Name: your name
• Billing Address: leave blank – you only need to pay for organizational memberships, not individual ones
• Category of Membership: Member – £Free

We hope you enjoy the magazine.

This session, presented by Saima Akhtar, is designed to give you a Whistlestop tour of the fundamentals of Arabic braille. Rest assured, it’s not nearly as complicated as you think. By the end of the session, you will have more insight into the following areas:

• The origins of Arabic braille.
• Common misconceptions around the structure and layout of Arabic braille.
• How the Arabic alphabet is constructed. (Here we will tackle the puzzling conundrum surrounding how to identify consonants and vowels.)
• Next steps for anybody looking to learn more after the session.

Please note, it will be much easier to follow along if you have a grasp of grade one English braille as I will be referring to similarities between English and Arabic braille throughout the session.

Register for the Masterclass here.

To join by phone, please use these details:

• Phone number: 0131 460 1196
• Meeting ID: 815 6532 8012
• Passcode: 123456