Amongst the many enhancements in firmware 1.6 for the Victor Reader Stream 3 is “Experimental eBraille file support”. This complements its existing support for BRF. Files will be back-translated and read aloud in a synthetic voice.
Author: Matthew Horspool
The VICTA Braille Art Gallery 2026 is Now Live!
Discover the winners of the VICTA braille art competition: visit the page on the VICTA website
Join Blazie Technologies on Facebook
From Blazie Technologies:
You’re invited to join the Blazie Technologies Facebook page to keep up with news about the BT Speak and BT Braille as well as interacting with us.
We also plan to have some exclusive content on our page, along with some other exciting opportunities. Join our page now to stay in the know.
Mid-Term Executive Committee Meeting of the International Council on English Braille: Monday 10-Thursday 13 August in the US
ICEB is delighted to announce its 2026 mid-term Executive Committee meeting, which will take place from Monday 10th to Thursday 13th August. All meetings will be held at Perkins School for the Blind.
Invitation to a webinar about BrailleBlazer and Unified English Braille (UEB) Practice Sentences, Thursday 12 February at Midnight
From Actual Tactuals:
I thought that you might be interested to know that we are offering an informational webinar on Wednesday, February 11. This presentation will give teachers/parents an opportunity to learn what our books are like. It will allow TVIs to consider how these books can be used to increase braille literacy in their students.
Please join Actual Tactuals Braille for a Zoom Presentation on both:
BrailleBlazer and
Unified English Braille (UEB) Practice Sentences
Q: What is BrailleBlazer?
Q: How can it help me instill a love for reading in my student? (It will!!)
Q: How can it help me? (All of the work is done for you. You don’t have to do a thing!)
BrailleBlazer has been used successfully with emergent readers, dual media students of various grade levels, and adults.
Q: What is Unified English Braille (UEB) Practice Sentences?
Q: How can it help my students improve in their reading skills and fluency, despite having some difficulty at this point?
Q: How can it help me? (All of the work is done for you. You don’t have to do a thing!)
Unified English Braille Practice Sentences has helped a various ages improve in both their reading and writing skills. It’s emphasis is on the ability to recognize and use braille contractions.
On Wednesday, February 11 the author AND a TVI who has used “BrailleBlazer” and “UEB Practice Sentences” successfully with many new braille readers, will be presenting virtually about how you can use it to teach students to read braille, and love it!
We will present information about how students respond positively to using it, diminishing fear of reading, and improving self-esteem.
Please feel free to let others (TVIs, parents, college students) know about this presentation. You will need to give them the following information:
Please send your name and email address to [email protected] if you are interested in attending this BrailleBlazer presentation. Our presentation will last approximately one hour.
It will be on Wednesday, February 11, at: 7 PM Eastern Time/4 PM Pacific Time
If you would like to get a better idea of what these two books are about, take a look at BrailleBlazer Volume 1 and Unified English Braille (UEB) Practice Sentences at: www.ActualTactuals.com.
I am hoping that you will share information about this webinar with anyone that you feel might benefit from these materials.
Prevail with Braille!
Roberta Becker
Library of Congress Certified Braille Transcriber
Teacher of Children with Visual Impairments
Actual Tactuals Braille
Website: http://www.ActualTactuals.com
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 516-434-1506
For Beginning Readers:
BrailleBlazer
Beginning Braille Reading
Activity Book
For braille readers having difficulty with contractions:
Unified English Braille (UEB) Practice Sentences
BrailleNote Evolve Featured on the Tech Doctor Podcast
David Woodbridge joined the Tech Doctors with his HumanWare hat on to talk more about the BrailleNote Evolve.
Recording of Blazie Technologies February Webinar Now Available on YouTube
If you missed our February webinar, we have you covered. It’s now available on our YouTube channel and it’s packed full of lots of demos as well as questions from participants.
For UK Readers Only: Survey on Spanish Inverted Symbols
The UK Association for Accessible Formats (UKAAF) is conducting a short survey to seek your views about Spanish braille in an educational context (Method 2), specifically how the inverted question and exclamation marks are shown. The outcome will be especially relevant to anyone using braille to study Spanish in the UK, particularly those taking GCSE or A-level exams.
No other braille signs are under consideration at this time.
You can access the survey at:
The survey should take you no longer than 5 minutes.
No personal information is collected, so to hear the outcome of this survey, please subscribe to the UKAAF-Announce email list by sending a blank email to: [email protected]. This is a low-traffic announcement-only email list carrying important announcements from UKAAF.
If you are a teacher, UKAAF would also love to hear the views of your students, particularly those studying Spanish using braille.
Closing date: 1 March 2026.
Thank you for taking part in this survey.
Search for the voluntary responses about braille displays usage
From the Braille Working Group of the European Blind Union
Dear colleagues,
I was asked by the company Cubed Design for a help in their work. They write:
“we’re currently doing interviews on some new questions with people in the braille display space!”
If you’d be open for a 15 min interview, that would be awesome. For booking the slot, just select a time here and a member of their team would chat with you! Thank you!
They are specifically interested mostly in teachers and trainers who are working with braille or braille displays.
Introducing Monarch 1.4: New Ways to Read, Connect, and Work!
From APH:
The Monarch 1.4 update highlights several key areas, including continued growth in braille terminal support with PC screen readers like JAWS and NVDA, the introduction of KeyDrive for cloud file access, and meaningful improvements to eBraille reading performance and formatting.
Supporting both Google Drive and OneDrive platforms, students can now instantly access assignments and content via the cloud. KeyDrive, allows students to login to the platform of their choice to access, move, or copy files from those cloud platforms using their familiar File Manager interface. Previously only connecting to PCs using the USB connection, Monarch 1.4 now gives users the opportunity for wireless Bluetooth connectivity via the Bluetooth Braille Terminal. Finally the Monarch’s Book Reader app comes equipped with the capability to open eBraille books, ensuring efficiency and braille format integrity. Read our Monarch 1.4 blog to learn more about all the ways these changes reflect a steady move toward making Monarch more capable, more connected, and easier to use.