The ABA Executive Committee is elected every two years at the ABA’s Annual Meeting, which generally takes place in April or May, immediately before the Round Table Conference on Information Access for People with a Print Disability.
The members of the Executive Committee serving terms from 2023 to 2025 are:
ABA Chair
Tristan Clare
Email: Tristan.clare@nextsense.org.au
Tristan Clare is a braille proofreader with the NextSense production team (formerly RIDBC). She has been a member of the ABA Executive since 2018 and is a member of the Australian Trans-Tasman Certificate of Proficiency in Unified English Braille Committee.
Immediate Past Chair
Jordie Howell
Phone: (03) 8378 1224
Email: jordie.howell@visionaustralia.org
Jordie Howell has served as Chair of the Australian Braille Authority since 2016. She works as a braille music transcriber at Vision Australia and as a braille music teacher at the Statewide Vision Resource Centre (SVRC). Jordie is Australia’s representative on the ICEB Executive Committee and Chair of the ICEB Braille Music Committee. She also represents Australia on the Onkyo Braille Essay Contest marking team. Jordie is a touch reader and an accomplished vocalist. She helped to write the Australian Addendum for Braille Music Transcription and is a leader at the annual National Braille Music Camp.
ABA Executive Committee Members
Kim Barber
Kim Barber is the Convenor of the Sydney Region Braille Forum. Kim is a vision specialist teacher and leads Braille and Large Print Services for the NSW Department of Education and Training. Kim is the Chief Examinations Officer for the Australian Trans-Tasman Certificate of Proficiency in Unified English Braille.
Chelsea Bartlett
Chelsea works as a planner with the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). She is a lifelong braille user and advocate. Chelsea joined the ABA Executive in 2023.
Ben Clare
Ben Clare is passionate about braille literacy and access to braille education for all. He has spent years travelling to the South Pacific regions to provide training and equipment support to their braille educators, as well as acting as a blind role model for their students. Ben is the Vice President, Secretary and Social Media co-editor for the South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment (SPEVI). Ben joined the ABA Executive in 2023.
Scott Erichsen
Scott Erichsen joined the ABA Executive in 2021. He is a lifelong user of braille with skills in braille-related technology and braille music.
Melissa Fanshawe
Phone: (07) 3470 4159
Email: Melissa.Fanshawe@usq.edu.au
Melissa Fanshawe joined the ABA Executive team in 2021 after attending many meetings as Chair of the Queensland Regional Braille Forum. Melissa is a mathematics lecturer in the School of Education at University of Southern Queensland. Melissa is also a trained teacher for students with vision impairment, gaining her Masters at RIDBC. She has twenty years’ experience within Queensland schools with students with a vision impairment as a teacher, advisory teacher (Adaptive Technology), and Deputy Principal of a school with multiple students with vision impairment. Melissa is also the parent of a child with vision impairment.
Janine Land
Janine is an experienced braille transcriber for the South Australia School & Services for Vision Impaired (SASSVI). She joined the ABA Executive in 2023.
The Australian Braille Authority is a subcommittee of the Round Table on Information Access for People with a Print Disability Inc.