Author: Matthew Horspool

We were touch to have been featured in an article on Build Back Ever Better, written by Tim Dixon, a previous Braille for Beginners participant. Read Tim’s article here.

We are “the go to braille people” and “the UK’s biggest braille cheerleaders”, according to a new article from London Vision. Read it here.

Are you thinking about learning braille, but dont’ know whether it’s worth it? Did you learn braille as a child, but haven’t used it since? Do you know braille and want to use it in your daily life, but can’t work out where it will fit? Are you bamboozled by braille technology, gadgets and gizmos?

Join our panel of passionate Braillists to explore how to overcome common obstacles faced by people who could benefit from reading by touch. You will hear a diverse range of perspectives from braille learners to braille experts, technology enthusiasts to people who just need to get on at home or in the workplace. You will also have the opportunity to ask questions and contribute your own tips and suggestions.

We’ll be starting at 7:30 PM on Tuesday 12 October. The link for this event is different to usual, so you will need to re-register. This is a quick and easy process, but if you get stuck, please email us at [email protected] and we will process the registration for you.

Register for Connecting the Dots in 2021 here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIkcuCppj0vHNY35tbIeyesSozi8V43DFcT

We hope you will join us as we celebrate national Braille week.

What are you doing to promote braille? Or, more importantly, what could you do to promote braille that you’re not doing already?

We’ve had landmark successes over the years, such as making it a legal requirement to include braille on bleach and pharmaceutical products.

We’ve also seen successes which feel smaller in isolation, but which nonetheless have a big impact. Many more restaurants have braille menus now compared with 20 years ago. Braille signage in public places is more commonplace, even if sometimes it’s attached upside down!

There are undoubtedly personal successes too. Maybe you’ve built braille labelling into your routines, or someone’s sent you a braille birthday card for the first time.

Wherever you are on your braille journey, we’re inviting you to do something you wouldn’t usually do to promote braille this National Braille Week. The more creative, the better!

And if you can think of something by Tuesday evening, be sure to come to our Connecting the Dots event and share it with us!

Can you imagine a world without braille? Can you think about how braille has impacted positively on your life, or on the lives of people with whom you work? Maybe you’re a family member or a friend of a braille user and you’ve seen first-hand how this revolutionary code has made a difference.

These are the topics of a lunchtime meeting from Sight and Sound Technology to celebrate National Braille Week, collaborating with great friends and colleagues from UKAAF (the UK Association for Accessible Formats) and the Braillists Foundation. The panel will talk not only about their own use of braille in their personal and professional lives, but we will actively be encouraging audience input – we want to hear your braille stories and experiences.

In short, if you are passionate about braille and want to shout it from the rooftops, this lunchtime event is most certainly for you!

Register here to attend the lunchtime discussion from Sight and Sound: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5dj-kdPKRwWg_oH0yoTrOQ

Many readers will know that Matthew Horspool has been Secretary of the Braillists Foundation since it was registered in January 2020, and latterly has also acted as Treasurer. However, he also maintains a very busy lifestyle at Coventry Cathedral and, with the number of services and events there increasing following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, he has decided that the time is right for him to step down from these roles. His official final day as a Trustee was last Friday, and the Board are now finalising plans for his succession.

This is not quite goodbye, though: some of the grant funding from the newly renamed Churchill Fellowship announced in June has been put towards a new role of General Manager, which Matthew has agreed to fill. Starting today, he will be working for the Braillists for the whole day on Tuesday and half a day on Friday, and in this new capacity will still be monitoring the Help address, producing the Braillecast podcast and keeping the website and newsletter up-to-date. He will also be responsible for other day-to-day management functions and driving forward some exciting new projects which we will be announcing over the coming months.

We look forward to working with Matthew in his new role and continuing to shape and develop the Braillists in the coming months.

We wish to apologise to anyone who received a “registration closed” error whilst attempting to register for our Computer Braille Masterclass last week.

During the weekend of 18 September, Zoom introduced a new feature to limit the maximum number of registrants for a meeting. This appears to have been toggled on for all meetings by default, with a limit equivalent to the maximum number of participants allowed on the host account. Since not everyone attends every session, there are more people registered for our Masterclasses than the maximum number of allowed participants, and hence no further registrations were being accepted. Unfortunately, however, Zoom did not inform us of this change and we only identified the issue yesterday afternoon.

We have now reverted the change and disabled registration limits for our Masterclasses. We have subsequently tested the registration page and everything appears to be working as normal again.

We will publish the recording of the Computer Braille Masterclass no later than Monday 4 October 2021, and would encourage everyone who was unable to register to visit the Media page or subscribe to the Braillecast podcast to obtain this recording.

Once again, please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused, and rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to ensure that such problems do not occur again in the future.

Capita is a delivery partner of the Department for Education’s Standards and Testing Agency; with the responsibility to manage the administration and processing for primary school national curriculum assessment tests in England. We are looking to recruit a number of braille and transcriber markers to mark key stage 1 and 2 tests scripts in May and June 2022.

Joining this year’s cohort of key stage 1 and 2 markers provides a great opportunity for professional development and can foster better understanding of the national curriculum test processes and procedures.

Markers will be paid for their time and be able to work remotely: You must have the following qualifications an experience to be eligible to apply:

• Relevant qualification in Unified English Braille;
• have qualified teacher status with a minimum of one full academic year’s teaching (preferably at primary school).

To find out more and apply, please complete a short online expression of interest, by 31 December at: https://capita-sta.co.uk/

The following has been sent to Braille Library members and is reproduced here for the interest of other braille readers:

Dear Braille Library member

In April 2021, RNIB’s Braille Library began offering readers braille books produced on-demand. We would like to thank those of you who have got in touch to let us know how much you are enjoying the new system. You like the smaller individual volumes which are more easily stored and handled. You appreciate receiving freshly embossed and more hygienic braille with fewer faded dots. You also like keeping the books for as long as you need before recycling rather than returning them.

Recent service disruption

Unfortunately, we’ve recently been experiencing some difficulties which are affecting the time it’s taking us to produce and dispatch book requests. Under normal circumstances, you can expect to receive your book around one week after requesting it. However, some of you may have noticed some delays in receiving your books. This falls far short of the service we want to offer. I am truly sorry for any service disruption or inconvenience you may have experienced. Please be assured everyone in our Reading Services team is working extremely hard to improve this as quickly as possible.

These delays stem from an issue with the new computer system we are using to place and prioritise book requests and report progress. We have identified the problem and are working to fix this as soon as possible. We’ve also been impacted by reduced staff numbers due to self-isolating requirements, like many other organisations and businesses at the moment. We are doing everything we can to get braille books out to you. We very much appreciate your patience and, in the meantime, if you have a book you need urgently then please contact our Reading Services team. Email [email protected] or telephone 0303 123 9999.

New development to help you identify volumes more easily

We’ve been listening to your feedback and are working to add the volume number to the first line of the title page which will be readable above the wrapper. This aims to help you identify volumes more easily without having to open every wrapper and should be available shortly.

Your feedback about how we can further develop the Braille Library is always very welcome. We will continue to make improvements and will keep you informed.

Opportunity to receive a free digital braille display

A number of our Braille Library members are now accessing their books using a digital braille display. The Orbit Readers from RNIB come pre-loaded with over 2,000 electronic braille books and have massive advantages in terms of accessibility and storage. If you don’t have a braille display and would like to register your interest in receiving one for free, please contact our Reading Services team. Email [email protected] or telephone 0303 123 9999.

Yours sincerely,
James Bartlett
RNIB Reading Services Manager

For the first time in nearly a decade, Sight Village will be held at its home venue of Queen Alexandra College, Court Oak Road, Harborne, Birmingham, B17 9TG. It will be open 9:00 AM-5:00 PM on Tuesday 17 August and 9:00 AM-3:30 PM on Wednesday 18 August, and pre-registration is essential.

A wealth of braille products will be exhibited over the two days from suppliers including RNIB, Sight and Sound Technology, HumanWare and, of course, Bristol Braille Technology.

Sadly, there is a limited number of exhibitors this year due to COVID-19, and the Braillists won’t have a presence at the exhibition itself. However, a few of us will be meeting for one of our “Braille and Beer” events after the first day, and you’d be very welcome to join us.

We’ll be meeting at The Old House at Home, 193, Lordswood Road, Harborne, Birmingham, B17 8QP. The pub is 700 yards from the College, with a bus stop just outside.

We hope to be able to demonstrate a small selection of braille products during the evening including the Canute and Orbit Reader. If you have a braille product that you’d like to show to other braille enthusiasts, please bring it along!

We will also be bringing A4 braille frames, styluses and 8-cell word forming blocks to give away to anyone who wants one, and offering free 1:1 training on the use of this equipment to anyone who needs it. If you have already obtained your equipment by post, but need help using it, this is an ideal opportunity for you to receive it.

The gathering will be very informal and there are no set start or end times, but you can expect a flurry of activity at about 6:00 PM, once people have packed down after Sight Village.

This event is being supported by Bristol Braille Technology CIC. If you would like to meet up at QAC and walk over to the pub in a group, or you have other enquiries on the day, please find Ed or Steph on the BBT stand or call 020 3893 3392.