Bulletin - October 2024

In This Issue

1. President's Message (Daphne Hitchcock, BLC President)
2. Announcement: Developing a Strategic Plan!
3. A Note From Your ICEB Rep (Jen Goulden)
4. Our Members, Our Legacy
5. It's time to renew your BLC membership!
6. Ho-Ho-Ho! It is that time of year to think about sending a letter to Santa.
7. Braille Art Corner: GOING BATTY!
8. UEB BASICS: Special characters for money
9. Social Media Links

President's Message

By Daphne Hitchcock, BLC President

I hope this newsletter finds you well and enjoying these Autumn Days.

BLC is moving ahead with the development of its Strategic Plan. Our board has completed a Strategic Planning survey and will meet together on a couple of Saturdays for in-depth discussions in the coming months. You too, will have the opportunity to provide input. Read on in the newsletter to learn more about our membership survey.

For those of you who like to plan ahead we have some dates to share with you. Our next AGM will be on Saturday, May 24, 2025. It will be a hybrid event, with the in-person meeting being held at the Chelsea Hotel, Toronto and the opportunity for all of the members to participate via Zoom.

Plans are already in the works for the 5th Annual Braille Symposium - you'll want to join us on Friday, June 13, 2025 as we continue to celebrate 200 years of braille.

Speaking of celebrating, BLC is inviting you to submit articles letting us know 'what it means to have braille in your life'. Braille is essential and we want to celebrate it with you. Send us a poem or a vignette but keep it short, no more than 250 words. Email your creative piece to info@blc-lbc.ca by December 31, 2024 and we'll publish your articles in our 2025 newsletters.

Braille literacy is what keeps us going, and so, as the days grow shorter and the nights longer, you might find its time to curl up with a good book. Be sure to checkout CELA's website for a good read - we are so fortunate to have a bountiful repository of braille books available - https://celalibrary.ca.

All the best,
Daphne Hitchcock, President

Announcement: Developing a Strategic Plan!

The BLC board is excited to announce that we are working on the development of a Strategic Plan.

In November, all BLC members will be invited to participate in this process. You will receive a secure link to a survey, which will ask for your opinions and comments on the current status of BLC, and there will be opportunity to make suggestions on how to improve and develop BLC in the future.

This is your organization and we want to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our membership.

Your contribution and participation in completing the survey will be valued. Stay tuned.

A Note From Your ICEB Rep

By Jen Goulden

The International Council on English Braille (ICEB) held its 8th General Assembly earlier this year in Auckland, New Zealand. The sessions were recorded and are now available on the ICEB web site, as well as in your podcatcher of choice. The papers and reports have also been posted on ICEB's web site. All of the recordings and documentation from the recent General Assembly can be found at the following link: https://www.iceb.org/ga24.html.

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 https://www.iceb.org or write to info@blc-lbc.ca.

ICEB produces a quarterly newsletter under the direction of its Public Relations Committee, which is chaired by Stuart Lawler of Ireland. 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 and Mastodon at @ICEBbraille.

Our Members, Our Legacy

The members of BLC are very important - together we create a strong and vibrant community through sharing our time, knowledge, questions and resources. BLC initiatives, such as the Braille Zoomers, workshops, newsletters, the Symposium and other programs are viable because of the commitment and efforts of those dedicated to braille and its importance. It is thanks to you, that the work of BLC continues to grow.

As well, we are appreciative of your monetary support. Your membership fees and directed donations help to sustain this organization. If you are in the position of being able to donate further, just follow our Donate link on the BLC website.

Looking to make a more lasting impact? A gift to the Vancouver Foundation's Braille Literacy Canada / Littératie braille Canada Endowment Fund will be held in trust forever. The annual interest and earnings generated from this Fund will help sustain the work of BLC-LBC for generations to come.

Our heartfelt thanks to each of you for the ways in which you support BLC.

It's time to renew your BLC membership!

Want to join us or are you already a member of BLC? As we approach the end of the year, the time is coming to join or renew your membership for 2025. The new membership year begins on January 1st!

The easiest way is to fill out our online membership form.

You can then pay online with PayPal, send an Interac email transfer, or get instructions for sending a cheque.

If you are already a lifetime member (or do not wish to be a member) but would still like to support the work of BLC we invite you to visit our website and donate online. Or donate to BLC through the Vancouver Foundation by supporting the Edie Mourre Fund or the BLC-LBC Endowment Fund. Donations to BLC are tax-deductible, and you could receive up to 49% of the amount donated back at tax time!

If you have any questions about BLC or need any assistance, you can contact us any time at info@blc-lbc.ca. We always love hearing from you!

Here's to another year full of braille!

Ho-Ho-Ho! It is that time of year to think about sending a letter to Santa.

The folks at Canada Post will make sure that Santa gets it!

How to get your letter to Santa: Santa and the postal elves are busy this time of year. Send your mail to the North Pole in time to hear back from Santa.

Here's Santa's address:

Santa Claus
North Pole
H0H 0H0
Canada

Get a letter back: Include a return address in your letter and Santa will send you a letter back.

Don't miss the deadline! Send your Santa letters no later than December 6th, 2024 to receive a reply before the holidays.

Our thanks to the many elves at Allyant who ensure that the braille copy is good to go!

Braille Art Corner: GOING BATTY!

On these dark and stormy nights, you too, can create a Bat in flight! Its wings are spread open and its head, complete with its two little ears, is found at the top center of the completed drawing. Thanks to Edith West, Paths to Literacy, for these instructions.

Insert your paper into the brailler in the landscape position, as the bat's wings will spread right across the page. The bat takes just 9 lines to complete.

Row 1: Space 17 times, make "dots 356", space 3 times, make "dots 236 (question mark)"

Row 2: Space 1 time, make "dots 356", make "dots 23456 (with)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)" 4 times, make "dots 12356 (of)", make "dots 236 (question mark)", space 8 times, make "dots 145 (letter 'd')", make "dots 123456 (full cell)" 3 times, make "dots 124 (letter 'f')", space 8 times, make "dots 356", make "dots 23456 (with)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)" 4 times, make "dots 12356 (of)", make "dots 236 (question mark)".

Row 3: Space 3 times, make "dots 145 (letter 'd')", make "dots 12456 (er)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)" 3 times, make "dots 12356 (of)", make "dots 236 (question mark)", space 8 times, make "dots 12456 (er)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)", make "dots 12345 (letter 'q')", space 8 times, make "dots 356", make "dots 23456 (with)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)" 3 times, make "dots 12345 (letter 'q')", make "dots 124 (letter 'f')".

Row 4: Space 3 times, make "dots 356", make "dots 23456 (with)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)" 7 times, make "dots 12356 (of)", make "dots 2356 ('gg')", make "dots 236 (question mark)", make "dots 36 ('hyphen')" 2 times, make "dots 356", make "dots 23456 (with)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)", make "dots 12356 (of)", make "dots 236 (question mark)", make "dots 36 ('hyphen')" 2 times, make "dots 356", make "dots 2356 ('gg')", make "dots 23456 (with)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)" 7 times, make "dots 12356 (of)", make "dots 236 (question mark)".

Row 5: Space 6 times, make "dots 145 (letter 'd')", make "dots 12456 (er)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)" 23 times, make "dots 12345 (letter 'q')", make "dots 124 (letter 'f')".

Row 6: Space 6 times, make "dots 356", make "dots 23456 (with)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)" 23 times, make "dots 12356 (of)", make "dots 236 (question mark)".

Row 7: Space 9 times, make "dots 145 (letter 'd')", make "dots 12456 (er)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)" 17 times, make "dots 12345 (letter 'q')", make "dots 124 (letter 'f')".

Row 8: Space 12 times, make "dots 145 (letter 'd')", make "dots 12456 (er)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)" 11 times, make "dots 12345 (letter 'q')", make "dots 124 (letter 'f')".

Row 9: Space 17 times, make "dots 145 (letter 'd')", make "dots 12456 (er)", make "dots 123456 (full cell)", make "dots 12345 (letter 'q')", make "dots 124 (letter 'f')".

UEB BASICS: Special characters for money

Thinking about travelling abroad? Here is a handy reference for the braille symbols used for local and foreign currency

• Dollar sign ($): dot 4, dots 2-3-4, for example $7 would be brailled using the following four cells: dot 4, dots 2-3-4, dots 3-4-5-6, dots 1-2-4-5
• Cent sign (¢): dot 4, dots 1-4
• Pound sign (£, pound sterling): dot 4, dots 1-2-3
• Euro sign (€): dot 4, dots 1-5
• French franc sign (₣): dot 4, dots 1-2-4
• Yen sign (¥): dot 4, dots 1-3-4-5-6
• Naira sign (₦): dot 4, dots 1-3-4-5

Social Media Links

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

• Tactile Reading & Graphics Conference 2025: For more information go to https://www.tactilereading.yellenge.nl
• SPEVI publishes a strong statement about the essential nature of #braille: https://www.spevi.net/statements/
• Barbier the Intuitive: The Louis #Braille Museum: https://museelouisbraille.com/en/barbier-l-intuitif