Latest News
- Braille for Beginners Drop-In Session
If you are registered for our Braille for Beginners On Demand course, our next Office Hours session will take place on Tuesday at 7:30 PM. Please look out for a reminder email containing your unique joining link. If you have not received it by Tuesday lunchtime, please write to [email protected] for assistance.
If you are new to braille and not registered for Braille for Beginners, please consider signning up at www.braillists.org/beginners.
For people not following Braille for Beginners, your next session will be next Tuesday. Please see next week’s Newsletter for more information.
- Webinar Wednesday from Sight and Sound Technology: Meet the Hable Easy! Wednesday 2 April at 2:00 PM
If you are a long-time follower of Sight and Sound across our various social channels, then you’ll know that we’ve had the hugely popular Hable One device in our portfolio for the last few years. Now we’re delighted to add the Hable Easy!
The Hable Easy is a small, easy-to-use device that helps people who find touchscreens hard to use. With just eight buttons, you can control your phone or tablet without complicated swiping or tapping. Each button has a specific job, so you can open apps, send messages, and even use voice commands with ease.
The Hable Easy makes using a smartphone or tablet simple and fun for everyone, and works with both VoiceOver and TalkBack. Just connect the Hable Easy to your phone or tablet with Bluetooth, and you’re ready to go! With just a press of a button, you can make calls, send messages, and enjoy music or videos.
Join us for this Webinar Wednesday event, when Hable’s Cofounder Freek van Welsenis will tell us all!
- Summer Term Braille Course Registration Now Open at Adult Learning Lewisham
Registration is now open for the summer term for the Braille And Tactile Skills courses at Adult Learning Lewisham, starting on 28 April 2025.
These courses take place on Mondays either between 10AM and 12:30PM or 1Pm and 3:30PM. Terms are eleven weeks long and are held at the Brockley Rise centre in South East London: 2 Brockley Rise, SE23 1PR
No previous knowledge of Braille is required, course fees are means tested and many applicants receive free or discounted places depending on their income. We are a friendly and supportive group, and all learners work at their own pace towards their individual goals. We have lots of great group discussions about various topics related to visual impairment and use things like tactile games to make learning fun and to foster new friendships and connections.
To register, please call: 02083143300 Monday to Friday between 9am and 4pm to make an appointment for a pre-course assessment with supported learning, or you can email: a href=”mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]
- Dave Williams Featured on BANA Braille Bits
Episode 8 of the BANA Braille Bits podcast features an interview with Braillists’ Chairman Dave Williams. He talks about his work with RNIB on Braille200 and the Braillists gets a mention too.
- Announcing BrailleBlaster 3.0.0
by Michael Whapples
I am pleased to announce the release of BrailleBlaster 3.0.0. This major version bump is to indicate BrailleBlaster reaching a new milestone in its life as it becomes open-source under the GNU Public License. With new packaging bringing automatic updates and Linux AARCH64 support, as well as many improvements and bug fixes we recommend all users to upgrade. As usual you can get BrailleBlaster from the BrailleBlaster website. For full details of what has changed please see the below release notes.
Unfortunately for Mac users, we do not currently have a release for you, this will be coming soon.
BrailleBlaster 3.0.0, March 26, 2025
Welcome to BrailleBlaster 3.0.0. With this release BrailleBlaster is open-source and is now released under the GNU Public License (GPL). This license change now means that users will have the freedom to make modifications to the software and they can contribute back to the project to improve things for the whole BrailleBlaster community. Whilst making the license change, we also took the opportunity to redo our build and packaging process. This should make it easier for us to produce new releases, will offer better user experience and automatic updates as well as better compatibility with some security software. Unfortunately it does mean, if you have BrailleBlaster.2.1 installed you should uninstall that before installing BrailleBlaster 3.0.0. As usual there have been a number of other improvements and bug fixes as well, so review the below release notes for full details.
License and packaging
- BrailleBlaster now under the GNU Public License V3 (GPL3).
- Users who use the installer options will now get automatic updates happening in the background.
- Fixed some issues when using BrailleBlaster with some security software, such as quicker start up when using certain VPN tools.
- Packages available for Linux AARCH64 systems such as the BTSpeak and RaspberryPi.
Math enhancements
- Now able to paste math equations from other websites and sources. Do not have to highlight the equation and click on Math Translation Toggle. Now use Ctrl+Shift+M to paste Math from another source.
- Nemeth Code Change Indicators are working when the translation settings are set accordingly and when Math translation toggle is used.
- Fixed issue when typing a line of text on first line of document then entering on a second line using the ASCII Math Hub, the first line of text stays on first line and second line is the inserted ASCII math.
- Following UEB Guidelines for Technical Materials The blank line is working in the Spatial Math Editor for UEB Matrices.
UI enhancements
- Issue with Braille Preview not working when using some .xml files has been fixed.
- A Disable Status Bar Item is available in the Settings Menu tab.
- Status bar cell information indicates which view the cursor is in whether it is in the Print view (Text) or Braille View.
- The ability to add Unicode Braille is now an option. When you highlight the braille in the braille view and right click, there is an option to Copy in Unicode.
- Selecting all or Ctrl+A will highlight text in the text fields now in both the Ascii Math Hub and Correct Translation dialogs.
Translation enhancements
- EBAE Profile has been added to the Translation settings profiles.
- Uncontracted change translation is correct. No grade 1 indicators when the translation is changed to uncontracted. Single letter contractions changing to whole uncontracted words do not show a grade 1 indicator.
- The Contraction Relaxer in Tools has been added.
Other improvements and bug fixes
- When attempting to emboss a brf which does not fit on the paper, an alert window appears that is titled “Document larger than embosser paper.” The window either allows the user to continue with the process or to stop to avoid any embossing issues or problems.
- Nimas files opens without the presence of the Default style at the top
- The backspace key causing an error when you press on it and erase text or when you press on it when Braillblaster is first loaded is functioning normally.
- Other various bug fixes and performance improvements.
- eBraille Candidate Release Published
The DAISY Consortium is pleased to announce the eBraille 1.0 Candidate Release. Whilst feedback is still encouraged, it is likely that this will closely resemble the final eBraille 1.0 specification.
Writing on the eBraille Mailing List, Willow Free from APh acknowledged those who sent in feedback, including James Bowden and John Ylioja, and to Matt Garrish and the other eBraille Editors for incorporating that feedback and getting the candidate specification published.
- Braille Cancer Screening Information from Galloways
Galloways is proud to partner with the Lancashire & South Cumbria Cancer Awareness and Screening Participation Small Grants Scheme. Together, they are committed to making a meaningful impact on cancer awareness, screening participation, and early diagnosis within the blind and low vision community. By providing information on common cancer signs and symptoms, as well as details about the screening process, in large print, audio, and braille formats, Galloways ensure that blind and partially sighted individuals can access the information they need to stay informed and proactive about their health.
For your free braille guide in the post, please email Neve Whiteside-Sutton or Holly Atkinson or call 01772 744148.
The Braillists is a grass-roots community group offering high quality training and support to emerging and established braille users. We also work with family members, friends, colleagues and teachers of braille users, and connect braille users with braille technology developers and funders.
What Is Braille?
Braille is a simple code for representing written language. We believe braille has the potential to transform the life of any blind person who has the opportunity to learn it.
Discover more about braille on this page.
Learn Braille
We support hundreds of adults to read braille by touch in a few short weeks through our innovative and approachable Braille for Beginners course. Free of charge, it comprises hard copy resources through the post and a series of short pre-recorded lessons, supplemented by email and Zoom support from highly qualified and experienced tutors.
Find out more about Braille for Beginners and register here.
There are plenty of other courses available too, for both children and adults, reading by touch or by sight. We have made a list of these on our Learn Braille page.
Perkins Repairs and Other Braille Equipment
The Perkins Brailler is the most established braille writer in use today, and even machines from the 1950s can still be serviced and repaired. We have compiled information about Perkins repairs, places to purchase Perkins Braillers, and other types of braille equipment on our Braille Equipment page.
If you are looking for braille paper, you can find it on our Braille Consumables page.
Our Aims
- Promote the value of braille as a proven literacy tool that enriches the lives of blind people.
- Support efforts to make affordable braille and tactile reading technologies available to all blind people irrespective of education and employment status.
- Provide an open forum for the exchange of ideas about the development of future braille technology.
Find Out More
Join our announcements only mailing list to receive our weekly newsletter.
Join the conversation and meet other Braillists on our discussion forum.
Connect with us on Twitter (@Braillists) or like us on Facebook for up to the minute Braillists news.
Listen to some braille-related audio on Soundcloud (braillists).
Please see our Sponsors and Partners for information on organisations who are supporting us.
Get In Touch
Email [email protected] or call 020 3893 3392. Further details on our Contact Us page.