Author: Matthew Horspool

Hello braille display user,

This is an invitation to participate in a very important study to create ergonomic guidelines for braille displays. While there has been a tremendous amount of research to ensure the safety and performance of QWERTY keyboards (see ANSI 100-2007) to this day no ergonomic studies have been published.Thus, there are NO industry guidelines ensuring good ergonomics of braille displays or Perkins keyboards.In 2020, Vispero utilized a braille display survey.The results showed that 26% of the respondents indicated that they experience pain from using their display.Therefore, Vispero has a partnership with researchers from the University of Houston Clear-Lake to create an industry standard for braille displays. As a token of appreciation for your participation, you will be entered into a drawing to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card.We will hold drawing at the conclusion of our data collection, mid-February at the latest. Please note that this research is for those that are over the age of 18 and there is no obligation to participate or finish this survey, and participation is completely voluntary. Also, while the study is planned to help develop ergonomic guidelines in general, there is no direct benefit for participation.

Please click this link to begin, also feel free to share the link with anyone that uses a braille display. If you have any questions or technical problems, please email Joel Persinger. You may only take the survey one time per household. Click here to see the official statement regarding the sweepstakes rules or here to see the University of Houston Clear-Lake consent form.

Thank you very much for your participation.

For a number of years, George Bell of Techno-Vision Systems has been producing an electronic braille pocket calendar for Duxbury users. It is formatted such that one month fits one nine line page and is 32 cells wide. This fits Canute perfectly.

You can download the 2022 edition free from this page.

For further information, please email George Bell.

Stephanie, who manages our equipment, recently received a phone call from someone called Mary from Northern Ireland. Unfortunately she has been unable to return it as she has mislaid her number. Therefore Mary, please get in touch with Stephanie on 020 3893 3392. Thank you.

We will be taking a break over the festive period. Our final session will be the Book Club on Thursday 16 December, and we will restart with a special event for World Braille Day on Tuesday 4 January. Newsletters will accordingly be paused.

We hope you all have a very happy Christmas and a prosperous 2022.

Thank you to everyone who took advantage of our offer of free braille equipment. We unfortunately no longer have stock of any items, but if you would be interested in us acquiring more, please write to [email protected].

Last week, RNIB launched a new piece of work on Accessible Gaming. As the first step, they are conducting an online survey to gather some headline data on people’s experiences of playing screen based games. In addition to those which are traditionally perceived as high action video games, their research includes word and number games, puzzles, crosswords, strategy games and any other game which could feasibly be played on a computer or smartphone, and at least some of these are likely to be playable using a braille display.

The outcomes from this survey will define RNIB’s work on accessible gaming and they would really like to hear from people across different age groups, interests and with different sight conditions on how they feel about playing screen-based games with vision impairment.

In their initial focus scoping groups, they had some interesting discussions with Braille display users and then again during the pilot study. They sensed a strong interest in gaming and, following that, they agreed that the study should explore the requirements for all modalities including audio, haptics and Braille.

For more information or to take the survey, please see the article on the RNIB website.

The Braillists Foundation is thrilled to announce that it is now accepting registrations for its third “Braille for Beginners” course, which will take place over eight Tuesdays at 6:00 PM starting on 11 January 2022. This innovative and accessible programme will equip blind and partially sighted adults with the skills to read and write braille letters, numbers and punctuation, promoting unparalleled levels of independence and raising their confidence and self-esteem.

Dave Williams, Chairman of the Braillists and himself blind since birth, said: “For me, there is no greater privilege than being able to read bedtime stories to my son. Without braille, I’m certain I would not be able to do this. I’m therefore delighted that we are able to mark National Braille Week at the Braillists by unlocking the world of reading by touch for so many people who have never had the opportunity before.”

The course, which will take place on Zoom with a telephone dial-in option for those with limited or no access to the internet, will be delivered by a highly qualified tutor with extensive experience of teaching braille to adults who are losing their sight, and is offered at no charge. Required resources will be provided by post or download, and peer support and 1:1 assistance from the tutor will be available by email between sessions.

Further details and the registration form can be found at www.braillists.org/beginners

The lunchtime discussion with Sight and Sound technology held last Tuesday is now available for on-demand listening. Find it on Youtube here.

In this special episode of the Blind Spot podcast for National Braille Week, Thomas Pocklington Trusts Technology Manager Darren Paskell speaks to braille teacher Norma Williams about learning braille in later life. Listen to the podcast here.

This article was written for last yhear’s National Braille Week, but it was so good that we thought we’d share it again. Read it on the Look UK website.