News

From APH: Monarch Update 2.0 Expands Accessible Learning Opportunities

This newest Monarch software update gives blind or low vision students the tools they need to complete assessments, explore equations, collaborate on documents, and continue working with digital and tactile information independently.

What’s New in Monarch Update 2.0?

Take a look at a few of the features coming to Monarch and Monarch applications with the new update:

Exam Mode

Exam mode creates a testing-friendly environment within Monarch, making testing a comfortable process for both students and teachers. Teachers can customize which apps are available during exam mode, and which are turned off. This helps to ensure students can take advantage of all the Monarch’s tactile and braille capabilities distraction-free.

KeyDrive

Added support for sharing files, modifiable document permissions, and a new “Shared with Me” section within KeyDrive assists users collaborating on documents. The added support, as well as new shared document organizations, can help users access and modify shared documents with ease.

KeyMath

A complete re-design of the graph viewer streamlines user experience and simplifies student learning. With this new design users can: select curves and view their function in braille, view hatch marks on axes, view and rename axes labels in braille that adjust automatically with zoom and hear an audible description of a curve. New shortcuts to toggle output between fractions and decimals, as well as a math symbol search bar, are also available.

TactileViewer

To assist blind or low vision users interacting with visual content, TactileViewer updates focus on improving clarity. SVG files are now supported, and PDF files now offer 9 levels of zoom as opposed to the standard 4. Users can “quick zoom” by long pressing the zoom buttons. The new “Describe with AI” shortcut gives a general description of the image as well as populates hidden annotations that can be tapped for more information on a specific section of the image. The new “Call Out Annotations” shortcut can be used to find annotations in an image. Edge detection filter will be automatically applied to all non-PDF images but can be toggled on and off. This filter identifies structural outlines of an image, alongside removing image “noise” like shading and colors, making visual content easier to navigate.

KeyWord

Nemeth and UEB will now use MathCAT for improved math translations. Syntactically incorrect math expressions can now be saved to a document, helping to improve mathematical error handling.

Victor Reader

Improvements to eBRL styling streamline user experience when viewing eBraille files. An improved OAUTH provider login also helps to improve the reading process for users.

These updates build on Monarch’s growing ecosystem of educational tools and integrations introduced earlier this year including Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, JAWS and NVDA, as well as eBraille and Wing It. Our Monarch team continues to work on building a system that supports independent learning, provides users with new technology, and never stops improving existing applications.

If you have any questions or concerns about updating your Monarch, please contact our Monarch Support Team at [email protected]  or (833) 447-8444.

From HumanWare: Exclusive Monarch pricing for National Federation of the Blind members

As a thank you for NFB’s invaluable contribution to Monarch and to the members who provided the important feedback which guided development, HumanWare is offering Monarch for the promotional price of $12,900, a $2,600 savings, to NFB members between July 4 and December 31, 2026.

Who is eligible?

This offer is available to NFB members. The special pricing applies whether you purchase your Monarch:

  • Directly from HumanWare (US: 1-800-722-3393, Canada: 1-888-723-7273)
  • Through an authorized HumanWare dealer

The promotional price remains the same regardless of where you purchase.

Not an NFB member yet?

Learn how to become an NFB member →

Offer valid through December 31, 2026. This offer cannot be combined with any other promotion, discount, or special pricing. Available to U.S. citizens only.

From Duxbury: Announcing DBT 15.1

DBT 15.1 for Windows and DBT 15.1 for Mac are now available.

Please read below for what is new in DBT 15.1:

eBraille Support

  • DBT 15.1 supports export of eBraille files from braille documents.
  • Command line support for eBraille conversion is included, using a new /ebrl command line switch.

Other Exporter Improvements

  • Formatted braille files may be saved in Unicode Braille Patterns encoding.

Accessibility

  • JAWS voicing of the translated line while editing large braille files is better-synchronized to what is shown on a connected braille display.

Importers

  • An arbitrary size limitation within DBT has been lifted, allowing for importing larger .docx files.
  • The .docx importer now adds a hard space after the function name for a math function.
  • The .docx importer will now recognize both old and new definitions of Red, as well as similar custom colors.
  • Problems placing images using TactileView 3 have been corrected.

Editing and User Interface

  • When hiding codes on the translated line, DBT will hide even codes at the end of the line.
  • The status line display is more reliable about leaving sufficient width to show text.
  • Several codes have been added to the Codes List dialog.

Language Support

  • The English/Unified (UEB) print-to-braille translation table (file enuncp.btb, now version 16;4 260707) has been updated to suppress the contraction “con” in the word “cons” in most instances, excepting only certain cases where the immediate context makes clear that “cons” is a formal or informal abbreviation of a longer word where “con” would be contracted, e.g. “ex-cons” (short for “ex-convicts”). This is an effort to more commonly comply with RUEB 2024 section 10.6.4.
  • DBT now includes an updated version of the BANA Template for Microsoft® Word™: BANA Braille 2026. Both >English (UEB) – BANA DBT templates and the style map file for them are updated as well.
  • The Urdu (Pakistan) print-to-braille translation table (file urdpcp.btb, now version 5;3 260310) has been updated to fix some reported errors.

Full details of DBT release history are available on the Duxbury Systems website.

To check if you are eligible for a free update to DBT 15.1 or to see an estimated update price quote please open your current DBT version and go to Help/Check for Updates in the menus.

To get an official price quote please contact [email protected] or your AT dealer.

From APH: Announcing BrailleBlaster 3.2.3

I am pleased to announce the release of BrailleBlaster 3.2.3. For most users BrailleBlaster should update to this latest version. Should you find BrailleBlaster does not auto-update for you, then as usual you may download this release at the brailleblaster.org website. Below is a copy of the release notes outlining what has changed in this release.

BrailleBlaster 3.2.3 Release Notes

Welcome to Brailleblaster 3.2.3. This release has improvement to the ASCII Math Hub and a couple other bug fixes and improvements

Bug Fixes and Improvements
  • Improved NIMAS file loading.
  • Braille changes made in the ASCII Math Hub guided by user feedback.
  • Able to apply emphasis with the cursor in the middle of a word using keystrokes CTRL+B, CTRL+U, CTRL+I, and SHIFT+ALT+S.

From MAWINGU: Tactile Screen NVDA Add-on

This addon mirrors the computer screen on a DotPad graphical area.

Copyright and License

This add-on is copyright (C) 2026 MAWINGU. This add-on is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2. The image processing is based on the DotPad prototype add-on created by Michael curran [email protected].

Key Commands

  • control+NVDA+f8: Open connection dialog.
  • NVDA+f8: Displays the screen at the upper left corner of the navigator object, pressed twice will track the navigator object.
  • shift+NvDA+f8: Displays the screen around the mouse pointer, pressed twice will track the mouse pointer.
  • NVDA+Escape: Stops tracking and automatic refresh.

Image processing details

The add-on captures the part of the screen that matches the current zoom level and the coordinates of the navigator object, mouse pointer or the current panned position. The size of the view viewport is a multiple of the graphical area of the connected device. If the image is expected to be black on white, it tries to keep black pixels at the expense of white pixels, and the opposite for white on black. this ensures that thin lines are not removed when shrinking. As the dotpad can only show a monochrome image (I.e. raised dots for white, no dots for black), a suitable threshold must be found to choose how bright something should be to be classed as white. this add-on currently uses a very basic local mean threshold approach where by the average brightness is calculated for a block of 7 by 7 pixels around the pixel in question, and then this value is used as the threshold. this approach ensures that changes can be shown even if lighting changes across the image.

Visit the GitHub repository

From AT Guys: Braille Apps 0.9 for Dot Pad and the Web

Added the 23 Bricks game. Thanks to Ka Li for the idea.

Added a vibration test to Hardware Test.

Expanded difficulty choices to Easy, Medium, and Expert across Chess, Checkers, Connect 4, Tic Tac Toe, and Minesweeper.

Corrected chess square notation and improved tactile piece alignment.

Unified browser and Dot Pad help content and renamed shortcut help to Commands.

Improved the timing and stability of Blingo result sounds.

Visit Braille Apps on the AT Guys website

Extra Braille Bar Today

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are offering an additional Braille Bar session this week in lieu of a Masterclass.

No question is too small, from kit to code – just ask and our experts will assist you!

Register for the Braille Bar

Or, to join by phone, use these details:

  • Phone number: 0131 460 1196
  • Meeting ID: 880 3508 8878
  • Passcode: 123456