Bulletin - October 2025

In This Issue

1. President's Mesage (Daphne Hitchcock, BLC President)
2. A Note From Your ICEB Rep (Jen Goulden)
3. Happy Birthday, Brailler Bounce!
4. eBraille - A Reality for Everyone Across The World
5. So What's Up With Braille Zoomers?
6. Upcoming Workshop: Braille Basics 101 Workshop - November 29, 2025 @ 1pm
7. Making Information Accessible in Braille at AEBC
8. Braille Art Corner: Ladybug Luck
9. Social Media Links

President's Mesage

By Daphne Hitchcock, BLC President

Hello everyone!

I love this time of year. A time to begin projects, explore opportunities for learning and to connect with others. This newsletter will give an idea of what the BLC Board has planned for the coming year.

The Zoomers group is back into the swing of things and our workshop committee has already hosted one event in September, and looks forward to another workshop in November. In 2026 there are more learning opportunities planned for you, including World Braille Day events and the Braille Symposium.

As you may recall, this past year the board asked our membership to help develop a Strategic Plan. Using the survey information gathered from you, and working together as a board, we finalized the plan in May.

The work began with focusing on our mission and vision statements. This took some doing, but we are satisfied that the following statements summarizes who we are and what we look towards for the future.

The BLC mission statement reads as follows:

Recognized as the Canadian Braille Authority, Braille Literacy Canada educates and advocates for equitable and timely access to high-quality braille for those who are blind, DeafBlind, or who have low vision.

And our vision for the future is captured in this statement:

We believe in a world where braille is universally acknowledged, respected, accessible, and integrated into every facet of society.

While developing the plan it was important to talk about the values of our organization, as our values help to shape the work we are doing. They define who we are and how we lead. We drilled down on four values which are summarized here:

• We believe in empowerment - providing leadership, advocacy, tools, and resources that strengthen access to braille literacy and equip individuals to navigate the world with confidence.
• We believe in collaboration - partnering with individuals, organizations, and communities across Canada to share knowledge, align efforts, and create lasting impact.
• We believe in community - uplifting the voices and experiences of braille readers, families, educators, and professionals to foster connection and collective progress.
• And we believe in innovation - embracing new ideas, technologies, and approaches that remove barriers and push the boundaries of what's possible for braille accessibility.

It is through this Strategic Plan that we reaffirm our commitment to the people we serve and to the future we are building - one where braille is recognized not only as a tool for literacy, but as a cornerstone of inclusion, independence, and opportunity.

The information I have included here is just a snapshot of the 2025 Strategic Plan. It is the Board's intention to host a town hall and present the full strategic plan to the membership. We have not yet set a date for this presentation, stay tuned. We will be inviting you to this online event.

Our board looks forward to connecting with you and providing learning opportunities in the months to come. If you wish to get in touch with us, please email info@blc-lbc.ca. Thank you for your continued support of BLC.

Wishing you the best!
Daphne Hitchcock, President

A Note From Your ICEB Rep

By Jen Goulden

Coming Soon! The ICEB Executive has been working on a major update to our web site. We anticipate that it will be ready to launch in the next few weeks.

Braille IPA: Throughout 2025 we have also been preparing a second edition of the Braille IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). It is important to note that we are not revising the code in any way. The intent of this revision is to make the braille and tactile files more readily accessible to individuals around the world. We hope to have this completed some time before the end of the calendar year.

Change of Date: The Midterm Executive Committee Meeting of the International Council on English Braille will take place from August 10-13, 2026. It is being hosted by the United States and will be held at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts. The dates have been changed because the World Cup will be happening in Boston at the end of June, making hotel room rates unaffordable. Observers are welcome. More information will be available throughout the coming months.

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.

Happy Birthday, Brailler Bounce!

Ten years ago, Myra Rodrigues initiated the Brailler Bounce. This initiative has been hugely successful, and as the word has spread, the request for braillers has grown. In the past ten years more than one hundred braillers have been donated, refurbished and re-homed.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Myra a few weeks ago and asked her how she came up with the idea. Myra's idea was spurred on by responding to need. She told me that for a number of years she taught braille and during that time she learned that many of her students didn't have a brailler at home, nor did they have the means to obtain one.

So, Myra spread the word, making it known that folks could send unused and broken braillers to her and she found a way to have them serviced. Once the braillers were in working order Myra gifted them to students and others who needed them. The Brailler Bounce was born! Such a basic idea, but what impact it has had!

The success of this program rests entirely within the community. The Brailler Bounce is dependent on receiving donated braillers and on monetary donations to pay for servicing each donated machine. Funds to repair the braillers have come from individual donations and through project funding from CNIB. Canada Post ensures their postage free delivery. It is thanks to the generosity of the community that the Brailler Bounce continues to thrive. In this calendar year alone, we have serviced and re-homed twenty-six braillers.

It warms my heart to know that the braillers, these sturdy and trusty machines, continue to serve as reliable writing tools, and that BLC is able to place them into homes with no cost to the recipient.

We send our gratitude to Myra for starting this important and meaningful project. Rest assured, as long as there is a need, Braille Literacy Canada will continue to fulfill the requests for a Perkins brailler.

If you are in need of a brailler send us an email to braillerbounce@blc-lbc.ca and we will put you on the waitlist.

eBraille - A Reality for Everyone Across The World

On Friday, September 19 we hosted a webinar, eBraille - A Reality for Everyone across the World. It was presented by Willow Free, Global Innovations Product Manager at the American Printing House for the Blind. Willow provided a comprehensive overview of the new eBraille format. This was a hugely successful workshop, with over 100 folks in attendance and 216 registrations. It was an outstanding webinar!

We will have more information on the content of the workshop in our next newsletter. For those of you who would like to watch it on YouTube, follow this link. A transcript will be available on our the BLC website once our volunteers have time to prepare it.

So What's Up With Braille Zoomers?

Our first fall cross-Canada Zoomers virtual get-together for adult braille learners was held on Saturday, October 4th.

In this first session, we investigated the ins and outs of our intrepid Perkins, discussing Brailler Basics. For those who do not have a brailler but might like one, we talked about BLC's Brailler Bounce program and how you can be added to the list. We included the following topics:

• "What the heck does that thing do?" - the various parts of the brailler,
• Loading various sizes and weights of paper and unloading when you're finished,
• What does THIS key do...?
• Writing a note, applying even pressure on the keys, and tips if you make a mistake.

If you wish to receive the meeting notes from this presentation email us at info@blc-lbc.ca.

On November 1st, we will talk about all things numbers -- writing them, and reading them in various orientations depending on where they are located. We will also include numbers in games like on playing cards, bingo cards and Scrabble tiles. As always, we will include time for your braille-related questions and successes and challenges in your braille journey that you may be experiencing.

To register email info@blc-lbc.ca. You can also use this same email address if you would like to subscribe to our Zoomers mailing list and you will receive regular email notifications of our sessions.

Looking forward to seeing you on November 1st!

Upcoming Workshop: Braille Basics 101 Workshop - November 29, 2025 @ 1pm

Join us on Saturday, November 29 at 1pm-2:30pm EST (10am Pacific, 11am Mountain, 12pm Central, 2pm Atlantic)!

Are you wanting to increase your understanding of braille? Panelists will give an overview of the ABCs of braille and discuss practical ways that it can work for you throughout the day. They will demonstrate how braille combined with technology can be used to create opportunities and empowerment in the workplace and at home. They will also discuss how braille can improve access to educational resources and enhance independence through the use of braille labels and other tactile markings. Finally, the panelists will focus on how braille supports the well-being of individuals through leisure activities such as braille cards and games that can be enjoyed by blind and sighted people together.

For young children, braille IS literacy; and for adults, it promotes and expands literacy, giving back the freedom to read. Think of it as another tool for the toolbox! "If you don't know it, you can't choose it." Whether you go for the full meal deal or just learn enough to manage the elevator or organize your medications, braille can give immediate access to the information you need. We will also introduce you to Braille Zoomers, an online Braille Literacy Canada initiative supporting adults who are new to braille or who want to improve their braille reading and writing skills. This group meets regularly throughout the year.

The workshop will be of interest to adults who are new to braille, Educational Assistants, and families of children who are blind or have low vision. Everyone is welcome.

Stay tuned for registration information or email us at info@blc-lbc.ca.

Making Information Accessible in Braille at AEBC

At the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC), access to information is a priority. We believe that everyone should be able to engage fully in the life of our organization, and that means making sure our communications are available in formats that work both for our members and the wider community.

We are a corporate member of Braille Literacy Canada as well as participating with other blindness organizations on the World Braille Day committee. Whenever possible, AEBC provides braille versions of our documents upon request; which includes materials such as business cards, brochures, and Annual General Meeting agendas. As a national organization, we connect with corporations, as well as federal, provincial and local government agencies to advocate for accessible materials, such as the following:

• phone bills, credit card and banking statements;
• braille election templates with accompanying keys for independent voting; and
• indoor and outdoor signage to be available in braille.

Offering braille copies is more than a courtesy-it is part of our ongoing commitment to breaking down barriers and ensuring that blind, deafblind, and partially sighted people have equal opportunities to participate actively and independently throughout their daily lives. We are fortunate to have dedicated volunteers who donate their time to produce braille for many of our smaller projects. For larger productions, we partner with Allyant, an organization with expertise in accessible formats. Their professional support allows us to deliver high-quality braille materials when larger quantities or more complex documents are needed.

By combining the generosity of our volunteers with the skills of our partners, AEBC makes sure that braille is not an afterthought but a meaningful part of how we operate. This is one of the many ways we work to remove barriers and create a more inclusive Canada-where equality and accessibility are not optional, but expected.

Braille Art Corner: Ladybug Luck

Some folks consider that a ladybug brings good luck. Here are the directions for a Lucky Ladybug. This little bug has an oval shape, its head has two tiny antennae, and you'll find six dots on its back. Braille this shape onto a card or bookmark and send someone good luck wishes!

• Line one: space two times, make dots 2-6, space one, make dots 3-5
• Line two: space two times, make dots 3-5-6, make dots 1-2-3-4-5-6, make dots 2-3-6
• Line three: make dot 6, make dots 1-2, make dot 5, space one, make dot 2, make dots 4-5, make dot 3
• Line four: make dots 4-5-6, space one, make dot 2, space one, make doe 5, space one, make dots 1-2-3
• Line five: space one time, make dots 1-2-6, make dot 5, space one, make dot 2, make dost 3-4-5
• Line six: space two times, make dots 1-4, make dots 2-5, make dots 1-4

Design credit: https://www.einfachmachbar.de

Social Media Links

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

• 200 Years of the Braille System - From Slate to Display - The 11th World Blindness Summit recently concluded in São Paulo, Brazil. This session took place on 2 September 2025, the first day of proceedings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDEpuSoi6Kw&t=1314s
• Attention: All Users of APH Products! If you have purchased APH products and services to use in education or rehabilitation settings, we want to hear from you! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7JH7DZ7
• eBraille 1.0 has Launched! Check out this article to learn more: https://daisy.github.io/ebraille/published/1.0/FINAL-ebraille-20250814/
• Bring braille into your classroom with this fun and informative set of materials. The Louis Braille Classroom Set: https://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/about/aboutbraille/kids-teachers.html