Yearly Archives: 2020

Looking forward to the ICEB General Assembly 2020

Australia is a member country of the International Council on English Braille (ICEB), which holds a General Assembly once every four years to conduct business and share developments in braille.

The 7th ICEB General Assembly will be held online for the first time in October 2020. Sessions will be held daily from Monday 19th to Friday 23rd October, 6am to 9am AEST daily. To register, simply send an email to ICEBconference@rnib.org.uk with your name, country and the days you would like to attend. You will then be sent the joining instructions, links to video presentations, and papers and reports in print and braille formats.

The program includes the following highlights with a healthy representation from Australia.

Monday 19 October

  • Keynote Address by Dr. Aubrey Webson, Ambassador to the United Nations for Antigua and Barbuda
  • Country reports
  • Nominations for the ICEB Executive 2020-2024 term

Tuesday 20 October

  • Braille Music papers, including Jordie Howell on innovation in braille music translation
  • Report from the Braille Music Committee – Jordie Howell
  • Report from the Public Relations Committee – Leona Holloway

Wednesday 21 October

  • Braille Technology papers, including Kathy Riessen on following print
  • Report from the Code Maintenance Committee – Kathy Riessen

Thursday 22 October

  • Braille learning and literacy papers, including Tricia d’Apice on her study of braille fluency in Australia and New Zealand
  • Elections

Friday 23 October

  • Resolutions
  • Introduction of the incoming Executive

ABA online workshop – apostrophes and quotation marks

The Australian Braille Authority is pleased to offer a series of online workshops.

The first workshop topic is “Quotes and apostrophes: using smart quotes in Word to ensure correct braille” and it will was conducted by Kathy Riessen.

The workshop was held on Thursday 18th June at 1pm AEST (12.30 pm SA and NT, 11 am WA, and 3 pm NZ and is expected to run for 90 minutes.

The workshop was designed to be as hands-on as much as possible. You can either just watch the demonstration OR if you have access to a second screen or another computer running Word you can try out the processes demonstrated for yourself.

This will be the first in a series of workshops planned in response to the restrictions of COVID-19 and the cancellation of this year’s Round Table Conference. Please contact us if you would like to suggest a topic for a future workshop.

Update

The materials used for demonstration purposes in the workshop and the slides are now available from our Braille Transcription page. The workshop recording is available for viewing on YouTube.

Presenters

Kathy Riessen presented the workshop. A member of the ABA Executive, the Coordinator of Accessible Format Production at South Australian School for Vision Impaired (SASVI) and the newly appointed Chair of ICEB’s Unified English Braille Code Maintenance Committee, Kathy has 30 years of experience in braille transcription of literary material, mathematics, music and languages. She loves solving technical braille problems and has generously shared her know-how and solutions through numerous workshops. She was co-editor of the UEB Australian Training Manual, a member of the working group that produced ABA’s DBT Producer’s Manual, and has contributed to numerous other braille guidelines and references.

The workshop was hosted by Leona Holloway, ABA’s Correspondence Secretary and Australia’s representative to the International Council on English Braille.

Hattie Douglass moderated the workshop.

Notes on using Zoom

If you have not used Zoom before, please familiarise yourself with the mute/unmute and chat functions as there will be time for questions at the end of the workshop.

Some recommended resources on accessibility in Zoom:

Australia’s Kathy Riessen appointed as UEB Code Maintenance Committee Chair

Kathy RiessenThe International Council on English Braille’s UEB Code Maintenance Committee is responsible for reviewing and further developing Unified English Braille and its official documentation.

Australia’s Kathy Riessen has been appointed as the new Chair of the UEB CMC from 1 June 2020. Kathy brings to the role 30 years of experience in braille transcription of literary material, mathematics, music and languages. She loves solving technical braille problems and has generously shared her know-how and solutions through numerous workshops. She was co-editor of the UEB Australian Training Manual, which forms the basis of UEB Online, created ABA’s Guidelines for Foreign Language Materials, and contributed to ABA’s Australian Braille Formatting Guidelines, ABA Braille Music Addendum and DBT Producer’s Manual. We wish Kathy the very best in her new role.

Australia’s thanks are extended to Phyllis Landon, who has stepped down from the role of CMC Chair after ten years, for the amazing amount of work she has dedicated to braille and for her sensitive and sensible leadership through many tricky issues.
Thanks also to Australia’s Bill Jolley, who has contributed his braille technical knowledge as an invited expert to the CMC. He has stepped down from this position, which will now be filled by Phyllis.

We look forward to the next four years of UEB code advancement.

Call for nominations 2020-2022

As a volunteer-led organisation, the Australian Braille Authority is only as good as its members. With a change in executive members expected, we are keen to invite your participation even if you have not been involved with ABA previously. If you are passionate about braille and would like to work with us on braille promotion and development, this is the perfect time to contact us to discuss or consider nominating for the ABA executive. We would love your ideas and input as we work together to increase the profile of braille in Australia and internationally.

Call for Nominations – ABA Executive Committee

call out (megaphone)Nominations are invited for election to the Executive Committee of the Australian Braille Authority. If required, a ballot will be conducted at the ABA National Meeting, to be held on Saturday 2 May 2020 at Bayview Eden, 6 Queens road, Melbourne, Australia.

Successful candidates will serve from the conclusion of the 2020 National Meeting to the conclusion of the ABA’s 2022 National Meeting.

To be eligible for nomination, a person must be from, and have the support of, a member organisation of the Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities Inc. Nominations may only be submitted by an authorised representative of a Round Table member organisation.

Current members of the ABA Executive Committee are:
Chair: Jordie Howell, Vision Australia
General Committee Members:
Sam Taylor, Pacific Vision – Minutes Secretary;
Leona Holloway, Monash University – Correspondence Secretary;
Josie Howse, NSW Department of Education and Communities – Convenor of the Proficiency Examination Committee;
Kathy Riessen, South Australian School for Vision Impaired;
Tristan Clare, Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children.

Clauses 13 and 14 of the Australian Braille Authority’s Terms of Reference (see below) provide that the only specific position to be nominated is that of Chair. The other five members are nominated as General Executive Committee Members and specific roles will then be appointed from amongst their number. All members of the current Executive are eligible for re-election and may stand for any committee position. If there is more than one nomination for the position of Chair, or if there are more than five nominations for General Executive Committee positions, a ballot will be held at the Annual Meeting.

Emails containing nominations should be based on the following wording:
“I, John Smith, representing Blind Musicians Association, nominate Mary Jones, representing the Society of Blind Potters, for the position of Chair, (or) General Committee Member, on the ABA Executive Committee for the two-year term 2020-2022. I confirm that I am recognised by my organisation to submit this nomination, and that Mary Jones is authorised by her organisation to accept nomination for this position. Mary Jones has indicated to me her willingness and ability to accept this position.”

The nomination must be signed and dated by the nominator. Nominations should be submitted via email by 12.00pm on Wednesday 29 April 2020. An acknowledgement email will be sent to the nominator within 48 hours.

Nominations can be sent to:

Please follow up with another of the above contacts if confirmation is not received. Separate emails should be submitted for each person nominated and for each position sought.

Australian Braille Authority Terms of Reference
extract

Executive

13) The Executive will consist of the following:
a) Chair;
b) Immediate Past Chair; and
c) five other members.

14) The Chair and other members of the Executive will be elected and the Secretary/Treasurer will be appointed as follows:
a) the Chair is elected by the National Committee;
b) the other members are elected by the National Committee;
c) the Secretary/Treasurer is appointed by the Executive from among its members; and
d) the Immediate Past Chair is confirmed by the National Committee.

15) At least half of the Executive will be touch-readers of braille who are blind.

16) Each member of the Executive will hold office until the close of the second Annual Meeting of the ABA following the date of the member’s election/appointment.

17) The Chair is eligible for election to the same position for a maximum of three consecutive terms.

18) A casual vacancy for the Chair or other members of the Executive may be filled by the Executive for the remainder of the term.

19) Other persons may participate in meetings of the Executive by invitation of the Executive.

Heritage braille equipment available from Vision Australia

The archives at Vision Australia hold an incredibly rich slice of history around the organisation and its state based predecessors supporting people who were blind or had low vision. However, a stocktake has revealed unnecessarily large quantities of some types of braillers and braille equipment.

There are a quantity of Lavender and Stainsby crab writers, wooden baseboards (some with the markings of their original organisation), Stainsby crab with metal board kits in suitcases, Sewell raised line and interline frames, a few Tellatouch and some older Braille books. For tactile graphics lovers, there are some international country maps and Sewell raised line drawing kits.

braille writer

If you are interested in obtaining your own piece of braille history, please contact Debra Mould at heritage@visionaustralia.org. She is available on Thursdays.
Collection preferred from Vision Australia’s Kooyong office, Glenferrie road, Kooyong, VIC.
If postage is required, it must be organised and paid for by the recipient.

Our thanks are extended to Vision Australia for their work in preserving braille history and ensuring that excess materials are shared with the community.
stainsbys

SPEVI Conference 2020

The Australian Braille Authority was pleased to present a poster and display of our guidelines at the SPEVI Conference for South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment in Adelaide, January 2020. Our thanks are extended to Kathy Riessen for this work helping to promote ABA and braille.
four posters and many documents relating to ABA, ICEB, BANZAT and braille
The Conference is well attended by specialist vision teachers from Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. There was also representation for accessible format producers, O&M specialists, parents and the University sector. Some of the braille-related highlights of the Conference are described below.

Emily White of Melbourne University delivered an excellent keynote presentation and call for more research on the topic of braille literacy with involvement from expert practitioners. Strategies for encouraging early tactile literacy was presented by Lea Nagel (SVRC), Trish Bishop (BLENNZ), Meredith Pitcher (BLENNZ) and Sonali Marathe (RIDBC); and research on acquisition of braille skills was presented by Frances-Mary d’Andrea (University of Pittsburgh) and Tricia d’Apice (RIDBC).

ABA extends our congratulations to Josie Howse, who was awarded Honorary Life Membership of SPEVI in recognition of her significant contribution to the field of vision impairment in Australia and internationally during the past 41 years.  In bestowing Honorary Life Membership, SPEVI recognises Josie’s passion for education and braille literacy for children who learn by touch.

Vision Australia displayed new products including Code Jumper for accessible coding and Braille Lego, to be distributed to schools next year.

bucket of lego with braille dots and print letters/numbers on top

All conference presentations will be made available on the SPEVI website at www.spevi.net/conference/.

World Braille Day 2020

January 4 marks World Braille Day, celebrated internationally and recognised by the United Nations in commemoration of the birth of Louis Braille on 4 January 1809.

To mark World Braille Day 2020, the Australian Braille Authority is pleased to launch a new page on the ABA website listing places where braille can be found in public in Australia. This includes braille menus, tactile maps, all-abilities playgrounds and public art accessible by touch.

clear print map of the Brisbane arts precinct with braille and raised lines

This is currently a short list highlighting and thanking those councils and businesses that we are aware of contributing to inclusion, independence and access through the provision of braille. We would love to expand the list but we need your help! Please contact us to suggest additions and corrections.