Newsletter - March 2024

In This Issue

1. President's Message: Something for Everyone (Daphne Hitchcock, BLC President)
2. Save the Date for our AGM - June 8, 2024
3. À vos agendas - AGA - 8 juin 2024
4. Save the date! Fourth Annual Braille Literacy Canada Virtual Symposium - June 14, 2024! "Touching the Future - Toucher l'avenir"
5. À vos agendas! Quatrième symposium virtuel annuel de Littératie braille Canada - 14 juin 2024! "Toucher l'avenir - Touching the Future"
6. Edie Mourre Scholarship accepting applications until March 31, 2024
7. La bourse d'études Edie Mourre accepte les candidatures jusqu'au 31 mars 2024
8. A Note From Your ICEB Rep (Jen Goulden)
9. Announcing Updated Accessible Signage Guidelines
10. Feature Spotlight: Split Braille Views in JAWS
11. Non-Alphabetic Special Symbols in UEB
12. Braille Art Corner: Spring is in the air and so are the birds
13. Social Media Links

President's Message: Something for Everyone

By Daphne Hitchcock, BLC President

We are so pleased to bring you this Spring Newsletter! It is full of interesting articles and hopefully something for everyone.

Expanding our own knowledge on braille as well as teaching others about braille is an important part of the work done by Braille Literacy Canada. Over the past months our Formats committee has been busy with updating the Accessible Signage Guidelines. These guidelines provide information for the community and are frequently requested through our info email. Read on to learn more.

You'll find in our Feature Spotlight article some great information about split braille views in JAWS. And should you wish to refresh your knowledge of the special symbols used in web addresses or documents, take time to review a few of the non-alphabetic symbols, found in this newsletter. For those of you who want to get creative with your Perkins brailler, be sure to check out the braille art corner.

Our BLC community continues to engage with adults and seniors who are seeking to learn about braille and braille resources, through our Braille Zoomer group. Folks from right across Canada meet together virtually once a month to talk about 'all things braille', with mentorship provided for those who are in the process of learning braille by touch. If this is of interest to you, or you know of someone new to braille, reach out to us at info@blc-lbc.ca for more information.

BLC finds its strength from you - our members and our board. We appreciated your questions, your comments and your support - together we can make a difference in improving access to information in braille and knowledge about braille. Should you have any suggestions about workshop topics, questions about braille resources, or if you just want to say hello, drop us a line: info@blc-lbc.ca

Wishing you the best!
Daphne Hitchcock

Save the Date for our AGM - June 8, 2024

Calling all BLC members! On Saturday, June 8, 2024, at 1:00 pm Eastern, you are invited to attend the BLC Annual General Meeting. This is your opportunity to hear about the accomplishments and plans of your organization. Details on how to register for this meeting will be forthcoming. In the meantime, please save the date and plan to attend.

À vos agendas - AGA - 8 juin 2024

Avis à tous les membres de LBC! Le Samedi 8 juin 2024, à 13 h heure de l'Est, vous êtes conviés à l'assemblée générale annuelle de LBC. Ce sera l'occasion pour vous d'en apprendre plus sur nos réalisations et nos plans. Les détails sur la façon de vous inscrire à cet événement vous seront communiqués sous peu. En attendant, prévoyez d'y participer en inscrivant la date à vos agendas.

Save the date! Fourth Annual Braille Literacy Canada Virtual Symposium - June 14, 2024! "Touching the Future - Toucher l'avenir"

Wherever you are located, the international braille community is strong. As we look ahead into the bright future of braille literacy, there is much to celebrate and share.

Braille Literacy Canada (BLC) will be holding its fourth annual virtual braille symposium on Friday June 14, 2024 from 1 - 5 PM EDT. This event will be of interest to braille readers, educators, transcribers, parents and anyone else who is passionate about braille literacy!

A host of exciting and world-renowned speakers will give half hour presentations (beginning at the start of each hour) followed by time for Q&A and discussion, with exciting door prizes sprinkled throughout the day!

Last year, this international event brought together braille enthusiasts from around the world, and a line up of exceptional speakers: check out the recordings here: Braille Symposium 2023

The symposium will be free of charge to members and $20 for non-members. Interested in becoming a BLC member? Annual membership is $20 - Write to us to learn more! info@blc-lbc.ca

More details on theme, registration and schedule coming soon - Mark the date in your calendars! This will be an event you will not want to miss.

Your Braille Literacy Canada team

À vos agendas! Quatrième symposium virtuel annuel de Littératie braille Canada - 14 juin 2024! "Toucher l'avenir - Touching the Future"

Où que vous soyez, la communauté internationale du braille est vivante. Alors que nous nous tournons vers l'avenir prometteur de la littératie en braille, beaucoup de choses doivent être célébrées et partagées.

Littératie braille Canada (LBC) tiendra son quatrième symposium virtuel annuel sur le braille le vendredi 14 juin 2024, de 13 h à 17 h HAE. Cet événement s'adresse aux lecteurs de braille, aux éducateurs, aux transcripteurs, aux parents et à tous ceux qui se passionnent pour la littératie en braille!

Des intervenants passionnants de renommée mondiale donneront des présentations d'une demi-heure (commençant au début de chaque heure), suivies d'une période de questions-réponses et de discussion. Des prix de présence seront offerts tout au long de la journée!

L'année dernière, cet événement international a rassemblé des passionnés de braille du monde entier, ainsi que des présentateurs exceptionnels : consultez les enregistrements ici : Braille Symposium 2023

Le symposium sera gratuit pour les membres; les personnes qui ne sont pas membres devront débourser 20 $. Vous voulez devenir membre de LBC? Le coût de l'adhésion annuelle est de 20 $ - Écrivez-nous pour en savoir plus! info@blc-lbc.ca

De plus amples détails sur le thème, l'inscription et l'horaire seront annoncés prochainement - Inscrivez la date à vos agendas! Vous ne voudrez pas manquer cet événement.

Votre équipe de Littératie braille Canada

Edie Mourre Scholarship accepting applications until March 31, 2024

The 2024 competition for the Edie Mourre Scholarship is now open and will be accepting applications until March 31, 2024.

Are you interested in pursuing a certification in braille transcription? Or maybe you have always wanted to study music braille? Perhaps you have been contemplating pursuing braille studies but the cost has held you back? Your time could be now!

The Edie Mourre Scholarship fund is intended to assist those who are pursuing employment as a braille transcriber or proofreader, or as an educator. Eligible codes include: Unified English Braille, Code braille français uniformisé, music braille, or other braille systems.

More information on the program and an application form (in English and in French) may be found online at https://www.brailleliteracycanada.ca/en/programs/ediemourre.

Good luck, and we invite you to share this announcement with others!

La bourse d'études Edie Mourre accepte les candidatures jusqu'au 31 mars 2024

Le concours 2024 pour la bourse d'études Edie Mourre est désormais ouvert et les candidatures seront acceptées jusqu'au 31 mars 2024.

Vous désirez obtenir un certificat en transcription braille ? Vous souhaitez depuis toujours étudier la notation musicale en braille ? Vous avez peut-être envisagé d'étudier le braille, mais vous n'aviez pas les moyens financiers de le faire ? Voici une bonne nouvelle !

Le fonds de la bourse d'études Edie-Mourre a été mis sur pied pour aider les personnes désireuses de travailler comme transcripteur, correcteur d'épreuves ou professeur de braille. Codes admissibles : Unified English Braille, Code braille français uniformisé, notation musicale en braille autres codes de braille.

De plus amples informations sur le programme et un formulaire de candidature (en anglais et en français) sont joints à cet e-mail, et peuvent également être consultés en ligne à l'adresse suivante : https://www.brailleliteracycanada.ca/fr/programs/ediemourre.

Bonne chance, et nous vous invitons à partager cette annonce avec d'autres !

A Note From Your ICEB Rep

By Jen Goulden

The International Council on English Braille (ICEB) will hold its 8th General Assembly from Saturday, 25 May 2024 to Thursday, 30 May 2024 at The Grand Millennium hotel in Auckland, New Zealand. The theme for the week is "Two Centuries of Braille." Each member country of ICEB will send up to four delegates to the Assembly. Observers are also warmly welcomed. The General Assembly will cover the business reports of ICEB, as well as papers and demonstrations on a wide range of braille-related topics. For more information, go to <www.iceb.org>.

ICEB brings together English-speaking countries from around the world and is the body responsible for Unified English Braille (UEB). The General Assembly is held once every four years, with a midterm face-to-face meeting of the ICEB Executive Committee taking place two years into each term.

If you'd like to learn more about braille on the international stage, visit <www.iceb.org> or write to info@blc-lbc.ca.

ICEB produces a quarterly newsletter under the excellent direction of Mary Schnackenberg of New Zealand. This newsletter is jam-packed with all sorts of braille-related events and information from around the world. If you'd like to receive the newsletter, UEB updates and other announcements directly into your inbox, we invite you to subscribe to our one-way announce list by writing to iceb-announce+subscribe@groups.io.

You can also follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter/X at @ICEBbraille.

Announcing Updated Accessible Signage Guidelines

The BLC Board is pleased to announce the approval of the Accessible Signage Guidelines (updated 2024). The Guidelines can be found on the Braille Standards and Guidelines page of our website and are available to download in PDF and Microsoft Word formats.

These Guidelines are of interest to those who are producing signage or reviewing existing signage in built environments.

Many thanks to the Formats Committee and individual BLC members who worked on updating the Guidelines.

Feature Spotlight: Split Braille Views in JAWS

Sighted computer users have long had the ability to split their screen, displaying content from two different windows. With the latest version of the JAWS for Windows screen reader, braille display users now have access to a similar experience.

This feature gives JAWS users the ability to access content from 2 different locations on the same braille line. It is incredibly useful for students, professionals and educators, especially in the following situations:

• Annotations: The text from a document in focus appears on the left, with information from corresponding comments, revisions or footnotes displayed on the right.
• Attributes: View the text in focus on the left, with its corresponding attributes (such as bold or italics) indicated on the right.
• Translation split: Especially useful for braille educators and learners, the focused text is displayed in contracted braille on one side of the display, and contracted braille on the other.
• Buffered text or speech history: read the text from elsewhere on the screen without moving your focus. Useful when double checking a phone number or address you need to copy, ensuring that names are spelled correctly, and much more.

Frequently used applications such as Microsoft Outlook and Excel even have some special split views of their own. To learn more, the following webinars are available through Freedom Scientific: Divide and Conquer: Overcome Challenges with Split Braille and JAWS and in collaboration with Humanware, Exploring the Split Braille Feature on Brailliant BI X and Mantis with JAWS.

Non-Alphabetic Special Symbols in UEB

The UEB code brought to us some new symbols and indicators. Here is a mini list of non-alphabetical symbols commonly used in web addresses and documents. Additional symbols and indicators can be found in the Rules of Unified English Braille (Second Edition, 2013), which can be downloaded as a PDF or a BRF from <www.iceb.org/ueb.html>.

Non-alphabetic Symbols found in UEB

• Commercial at sign (@): dot 4, dot 1
• Forward slash (solidus) (/): dots 4-5-6, dots 3-4
• Backslash (reverse solidus) (\): dots 4-5-6, dots 1-6
• Underscore (low line) (_): dots 4-6, dots 3-6
• Ampersand (&): dot 4, dots 1-2-3-4-6
• Number sign, crosshatch, hashtag, pound sign (#): dots 4-5-6, dots 1-4-5-6
• Bullet (•): dots 4-5-6, dots 2-5-6
• Asterisk (*): dot 5, dots 3-5

Other lesser used non-alphabetic symbols

• Dagger (†): dot 4, dot 6, dots 1-4-5-6
• Double dagger (‡): dot 4, dot 6, dots 1-2-4-5-6
• Paragraph sign (pilcrow) (¶): dots 4-5, dots 1-2-3-4
• Section sign (silcrow) (§): dots 4-5, dots 2-3-4
• Copyright sign (©): dots 4-5, dots 1-4
• Registered sign (®): dots 4-5, dots 1-2-3-5
• Trademark sign (™): dots 4-5, dots 2-3-4-5
• Ditto (〃): dot 5, dot 2

Braille Art Corner: Spring is in the air and so are the birds

Here are the instructions for making a braille drawing of a bird in flight, by Edith West

Line 1: Space 3 times, make period (dots 256), make "y" (dots 13456), make "for" (dots 123456) 2 times, make "of" (dots 12356, make question mark (dots 236), space 6 times, make "was" (dots 356), make "with" (dots 23456), make "f" (dots 124).

Line 2: Space 4 times, make period, make "y", make "for" 4 times, make question mark, space 3 times, make "was", make "for", make "f".

Line 3: Space 5 times, make "d" (dots 145), make "er" (dots 12456), make "for" 4 times, make "of", space 1 time, make "was", make "for", make "f", space 1 time, make "was", make "were" (dots 2356), make question mark.

Line 4: Space 7 times, make "er", make "for" 4 times, make "of", space 3 times, make "was", make "for" 3 times, make "of", make question mark.

Line 5: Space 4 times, make "of", make "were" 3 times, make "with", make "for" 4 times, make "of", make "with", make "for 3 times, make "f".

Line 6: Space 5 times, make "er", make "for" 10 times, make "q" (dots 12345).

Line 7: Space 6 times, make "d", make "er", make "for" 6 times, make "q", make "f".

Social Media Links

Here are a few of the items we have posted on our social media platforms in recent weeks.

• Revolutionizing #Braille: A Leap Forward in Accessibility for the Visually Impaired: https://bnnbreaking.com/world/china/revolutionizing-braille-a-leap-forward-in-accessibility-for-the-visually-impaired
• 64 Oz. Games accessibility kits allow both blind and sighted players to enjoy such favourites as Apples to Apples, Taboo, and many others. <www.64-ounce-games.myshopify.com>
• This is an excellent resource. Check out the latest version of the Sao Mai Braille (SMB) a Rich-text Editor & Braille Translator: <www.saomaicenter.org/en/smsoft/smb>
• ICEB is now on Mastodon: @ICEBbraille.mastodon.social