Newsletter - July 2025

In This Issue

1. President's Mesage (Daphne Hitchcock, BLC President)
2. A Note From Your ICEB Rep (Jen Goulden)
3. News from NNELS
4. Save the date for our EBraille Workshop in September
5. Corporate Corner: The CCB (Leo Bissonnette, Canadian Council of the Blind Representative)
6. Celebrating Braille, celebrating you!
7. Some Words of Thanks and Appreciation (Betty Nobel, Recipient of the 2025 President's Award)
8. Braille Art Corner: Ice Cream Cone
9. Social Media Links

President's Mesage

By Daphne Hitchcock, BLC President

Happy Summer everyone - I hope that this newsletter finds you well.

Summer is a great time to change up your routine and try out new things.

Maybe you are looking for new opportunities to learn more about braille and braille resources. This summer, why not try out the world of braille podcasts? Podcasts are a great way to learn more about any given subject and there are a number of really good ones that specifically focus on braille. Here are a couple of podcasts to get you started:

• Bana Braille Bits
• BrailleCast

Or perhaps you want to learn a new board game or try your hand at solving brain teasers. You'll find a wide variety of braille-ready games at these online stores:

• CNIB SmartLife
• Braille Book Store
• 64oz Braille

And of course, there's nothing better than a good summer read! Both CELA and NNELS have books just for you. Be sure to check out their catalogues: https://celalibrary.ca and https://nnels.ca. This past spring I challenged myself to read the five finalists of Canada Reads 2025. These five books and many, many more are available in a variety of formats from CELA and NNELS. Happy reading!

Some of you might be interested in refreshing your braille knowledge and skills. These two free programmes provide braille instruction for those who read braille by touch and for those who read braille by sight - Hadley and UEB Online If you want to learn a bit more about them, you can refer to our YouTube channel. Recordings are available on them from our past symposiums - Link for UEBonline, Link for Hadley

And speaking of Symposiums, our 5th Annual Braille Symposium would not have been possible without the immense support we received from the community. My sincere thanks to each of our speakers, our sponsors, our volunteer organizing committee and you! Thank you for contributing to the success of this event. For those of you who were not able to join us, the symposium recordings will be posted on our website in the near future. We'll let you know once they are available to view.

Take time to sit back and enjoy the goodness of the day. Happy summer!

Daphne Hitchcock, President

A Note From Your ICEB Rep

By Jen Goulden

Save the Date: The Midterm Executive Committee Meeting of the International Council on English Braille will take place from June 22-26, 2026. It is being hosted by the United States and will be held at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts. Observers are welcome. Stay tuned for more information.

The Rules of Unified English Braille, Third Edition is available for download in print (PDF) and braille (BRF) from https://www.iceb.org

The BRF is also available from CELA, and a hard copy can be requested via the single-use braille option.

ICEB brings together English-speaking countries from around the world and is the body responsible for Unified English Braille (UEB). The General Assembly is held once every four years, with a midterm face-to-face meeting of the ICEB Executive Committee taking place two years into each term.

If you'd like to learn more about braille on the international stage, visit https://www.iceb.org or write to info@blc-lbc.ca.

ICEB produces a newsletter under the direction of its Public Relations Committee, which is chaired by Stuart Lawler of Ireland. The newsletter is jam-packed with all sorts of braille-related events and information from around the world. If you'd like to receive the newsletter, UEB updates and other announcements directly into your inbox, we invite you to subscribe to our one-way announce list by writing to iceb-announce+subscribe@groups.io.

You can also follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter and Mastodon at @ICEBbraille.

News from NNELS

Are you interested in the braille collections at NNELS and the ways to access them? The National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) has a no-cost upcoming presentation for braille readers. Registration is open now; visit https://nnels.ca/nnels-webinars to register in English or French.

And for the librarians in the crowd, there is webinar about all things braille especially for you! Here is the link to learn about both of these free webinars: NNELS Webinars

Save the date for our EBraille Workshop in September

Plan to join us on Friday, September 19, 2025, 1 PM Eastern as we learn more about eBraille from Willow Free, Global Innovations Product Manager at the American Printing House for the Blind.

"We're at the beginning of another braille revolution," said Willow Free, co-chair of the eBraille Working Group. Learn about eBraille, the file type which allows braille and tactile graphics to be read together in one electronic document.

Stay tuned for more information and registration details, an announcement will be sent to the BLC membership and all Symposium registrants.

Corporate Corner: The CCB

By Leo Bissonnette, Canadian Council of the Blind Representative

Editor's note: Over the next several issues, Corporate Corner will provide BLC's corporate members with the opportunity to share a little more about what their organizations are up to. Our first member in the spotlight is the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).

As the CCB Corporate Representative for the Canadian Council of the Blind to the BLC board and as an active board member of BLC, I headed to Toronto for our AGM 2025 weekend of events with great anticipation and enthusiasm. It would be for me the first time that I would meet board members who I only met through Zoom contact.

It was also an opportunity to have with me Jim Tokos, President of the CCB, to participate in the Saturday events in the morning and in the afternoon.

Before commenting on the renewed energy that Jim and I came out of the AGM with, I'd like to note that CCB over the years has had corporate members support the work of BLC. Elizabeth Mayo and Louise Gillis served in this role. Kim Kilpatrick had CCB support in establishing a very active braille display group that meets regularly to keep current on emerging technologies in this area.

I proudly note that I am now in my second term as the CCB corporate member and serve as a Director on the BLC board.

As we left Toronto, I came away with renewed energy to work on emerging BLC priorities. Part of this renewed energy will have CCB use social media to get the word out to CCB members about our upcoming events and activities. While we have tended to make sure that board members of CCB know about upcoming events we want to broaden this to get the word out to our members. So social media postings will be in the future planning for CCB.

I am also pleased to note that we have a younger member of our board excited to step up to learn more about BLC and eventually take on the role of being our corporate representative!

Celebrating Braille, celebrating you!

This summer, we have the privilege of celebrating some Canadian braille accomplishments!

First of all, congratulations to the five Canadian students who represent the crème de la crème of braille readers! This fab five travelled to Los Angeles at the end of June to participate in the International Braille Challenge. Well done, Aiza S. (Ontario), Isaiah G. (Saskatchewan), Janna C. (Ontario), Caden J. (Alberta) and Margot W. (British Columbia). Isaiah took second place in the Sophomore age category. During the ceremony special recognition was given to Adam Wilton for his contribution to the Braille Challenge with the presentation of the 2025 Braille Challenge Advisory Honouree Recognition Award.

Hats off to all the regional coordinators of the provincial Braille Challenges Lesley Anthony (APSEA), Karen Brophey (Ontario), Pamela Tarr (Saskatchewan), Michelle Gillis (Alberta) and Adam Wilton (BC). These coordinators create the opportunities for students, each of whom have varying degrees of braille proficiency, to participate in the provincial braille challenges. Hooray for braille!

We would also like to congratulate Roberta Torbet and Jennifer Seabrook, recipients of the Edie Mourre Scholarship. Thank you for your commitment to braille - ensuring that high quality braille continues to be produced by certified braille transcribers.

Our sincere thanks also goes to the folks at CNIB - Beyond Print who mark and manage the braille certification courses. These courses are an essential part of the face of braille in Canada.

And finally, congratulations to Betty Nobel, recipient of the 2025 BLC President's Award! In both her career and her volunteer work, Betty continues to underscore the importance of braille as an essential and primary literacy format for those who are blind. She is always willing to step in and help, bringing her good humour and energy to the task at hand. Congratulations Betty!

Some Words of Thanks and Appreciation

By Betty Nobel, Recipient of the 2025 President's Award

I was deeply humbled and honoured to be chosen as this year's recipient of the BLC President's Award. Saying "Thank you" isn't enough. I decided I had to sit in front of my computer on a warm Sunday afternoon to share with you all why this recognition is so special.

I started my journey as a member of the Canadian Braille Authority (CBA) shortly after sitting beside Fred Poon on a long flight home from Toronto. At that time in the late 1990s he was the director of the Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired in BC. He spent most of the flight telling me why I should consider accepting a nomination to be on the board, and he was very convincing. I didn't know anything about the Canadian Braille Authority at the time, but he said that didn't matter because I would learn what I needed to know. By the end of the flight, I agreed that he could put my name forward. He had so many reasons why I should serve on the board that it was hard to resist - not that I really wanted to anyway. Braille has always been useful and valuable in my life, so having the opportunity to promote braille literacy was a big selling point. I had already taught many students new to blindness who were discovering how learning braille was impacting their lives. I already knew that Literacy opened doors. My own braille literacy skills were key to providing me with knowledge, entertainment and information access.

Over the next ten years or so I served as Secretary and Chair of the CBA board. I met and learned from parents, teachers, transcribers and other braille users. I had the pleasure of working with amazing researchers. I met people who were as passionate about braille as I was at national and international meetings. I chaired the Braille Literacy Foundation when it existed and we were able to provide grants for some very important projects like the tactile graphic standards, a guide for classroom teachers working with students who use braille and other projects that had a tremendous impact in Canadian and American classrooms.

As long as braille is championed by everyone involved in its continuing existence, people who are blind will have a useful tool that may provide them with employment and other opportunities because they are literate in braille. The value of braille literacy can not be understated. BLC is a small but mighty force that promotes the use of braille for all those whose fingers skim over the magic dots or create written text using braille. Technology is now changing the way braille is produced which makes it far less bulky and more computable with less intervention by the transcriber. We now have one code, UEB that is used by several English-speaking countries as the primary literacy medium for students who are blind. I am proud to have played a small part in the progress of this organization toward the achievement of its goals. Let's all continue to make sure that braille remains as the learning medium of choice for children and adults. They will gain a skill that will allow them to participate fully in a complex world.

Louis Braille's creativity gave me literacy. Braille Literacy Canada gives braille life and worth. If my accomplishments have contributed to the life of braille in some small way, that is what is most important to me.

Thank you for giving me the President's award.

Braille Art Corner: Ice Cream Cone

Just in time for summer, enjoy a tasty treat. This braille art project shows a triangular-shaped cone with two scoops of ice cream, your choice of flavour! The ice cream is represented by the outline of two overlapping circular shapes. Mmm, my favourite flavour is raspberry, what's yours?

Directions:

• Line 1: space two, make DOT 3, make DOT 4, space one, make DOT 4, space one, make DOT 3, make DOT 4, space one, make DOT 1, make DOT 6
• Line 2: space one, make DOT 2, space six, make DOT 2, space three, make DOT 5
• Line 3: make DOT 5, space seven, make DOT 5, space three, make DOT 5
• Line 4: space one, make DOT 2, space six, make DOT 2, space three, make DOT 2
• Line 5: space two, make DOT 1, make DOTS 3-6 four times, make DOTS 1-3-6 one time, make DOTS 3-6 two times, make DOT 2, make DOT 1
• Line 6: space three, make DOTS 1-2-3-4-5-6 seven times
• Line 7: space three, make DOTS 4-5-6, make DOTS 1-2-3-4-5-6 five times, make DOTS 1-2-3
• Line 8: space four, make DOTS 1-2-3-4-5-6 five times
• Line 9: space four, make DOTS 4-5-6, make DOTS 1-2-3-4-5-6 three times, make DOTS 1-2-3
• Line 10: space five, make DOTS 1-2-3-4-5-6 three times
• Line 11: space five, make DOTS 4-5-6, make DOTS 1-2-3-4-5-6 one time, make DOTS 1-2-3
• Line 12: space six, make DOTS 1-2-3-4-5-6

Many thanks to the folks at <www.einfachmachbar.de> for this ice cream cone pattern.

Social Media Links

Here are a few of the items we have posted on our social media platforms in recent weeks.

• Registration is now open for the World Blindness Summit and WBU General Assembly, taking place from September 1-5, 2025, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Event Website: https://events.mundialdadeficienciavisual.com.br/
• BANA Approves New Position Paper, Welcomes New Board Member | Braille Authority of North America: https://www.brailleauthority.org/bana-approves-new-position-paper-welcomes-new-board-member
• Two hundred years and counting, #braille is as essential today as it was in 1824. Braille transcribers provide the necessary skills to ensure that braille is accurately produced in many languages around the world. Horray for our braille transcribers! Thank you!
• Celebrate braille transcribers each year on 06-06! #Braille #SixDotsStrong