[Blindmath] Petition to preserve the nemeth Uniform Braille system

[Gary Wunder]

Please note that the NFB passed the following resolution at our annual
convention this past July.

Resolution 2012-13
Regarding Braille Codes

	WHEREAS, Braille has been the primary means of literacy for blind
people since its invention in the 1800s; and 

	WHEREAS, the potential for the integration of Braille into education
and everyday life is now greater than ever because of the proliferation of
computers and mobile devices that can generate Braille; and 

	WHEREAS, the ability of a Braille user to write in Braille for
instant communication and collaboration with non-Braille readers is becoming
ever more essential in our digital age; and 

	WHEREAS, although the accurate, automated conversion of print to
Braille (forward translation) and from Braille to print (back translation)
is possible, inconsistencies within the current Braille codes, as well as
changing print conventions not effectively addressed in the current literary
Braille code, serve as significant roadblocks to translation; and 

	WHEREAS, these underlying difficulties may be exacerbated by
continuing efforts to tweak the current system; and 

	WHEREAS, the adoption of a more systematic symbol set providing for
greater flexibility and fewer exceptions to rules would increase the
accuracy of forward- and back-translation and would also enable Braille
transcribers to focus attention on issues of formatting and representing
graphics or other essential visual elements; and 

	WHEREAS, since 1992 the Braille Authority of North America (BANA)
and later the International Council on English Braille have been engaged in
the development of a single system called Unified English Braille (UEB) to
reduce conflicts and ambiguities by unifying some of the current multiple
Braille codes; and 

	WHEREAS, UEB has been developed with input from many people with the
intention of achieving an optimal balance among many factors, including
keeping our current general-purpose literary code as its basis, enabling
Braille to convey the same information as print, allowing for the addition
of new symbols not currently available in literary Braille, providing
flexibility to change as print changes, reducing the complexity of rules,
and allowing greater accuracy in back-translation; and 

	WHEREAS, the use of some dedicated Braille codes for specific
subjects, which permit the flexibility to represent those subjects fully,
continues to be necessary and desirable; and 

	WHEREAS, the current version of the Nemeth Braille Code for
Mathematics and Science Notation, implemented in the United States forty
years ago, has been widely recognized as an ingenious, powerful, and
efficient system for representing mathematics and scientific notation in
Braille; and 

	WHEREAS, the wholesale adoption of UEB would bring about relatively
few changes from current methods of representing literary materials but
would cause radical changes to Braille for technical materials; and 

	WHEREAS, a solution involving the adoption of UEB along with
continued use of the current Nemeth Braille Code, while not fully unifying
all codes, would improve the utility of Braille in the digital age and
increase flexibility for both technical and non-technical uses: Now,
therefore, 

	BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention
assembled this fourth day of July, 2012, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that
this organization call upon the Braille Authority of North America to adopt
the symbols and rules of Unified English Braille as the standard for
general-purpose, non-technical materials; and 

	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization express its strong
support for the continued use of the current Nemeth Braille Code as the
standard code for the teaching and production of materials that are
primarily mathematical in nature; and 

	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization call upon BANA to work
with all stakeholders to develop a gradual implementation plan that brings
about a minimum of disruption to the education of blind children, takes into
account the needs of Braille users of all ages and in all walks of life, and
provides clear guidance to educators and Braille producers about when to use
which code. <

-----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Antonio
Guimaraes
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2012 1:56 PM
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Cc: freethaught at gmail.com
Subject: [Blindmath] Petition to preserve the nemeth Uniform Braille system

Dear reader,

I would like to bring your attention to a petition concerning changes to the
Braille system in the United States.

The Braille Authority of North America will vote to adopt the Unified
English Braille this November. The body will likely retain the Nemeth code
for use in math and the sciences, but will change Braille in this country to
reflect adoption of the Unified English Braille used in other countries.

BANA has given little effort and thoughtful consideration to Dr.
Abraham Nemeth's most recent \work to make American Braille uniform.

It is my opinion that BANA is more concerned with unification of Braille
with other English-speaking countries than the impact changes will have on
education of all blind people who will study math and science.

However, uniformity is vastly more important than unification. This is
especially true considering that the Nemeth code is unique to the United
States, and enables blind children to excel in their chosen career paths in
the hard sciences.

The Nemeth Uniform Braille System, NUBS, is the most up-to-date revision to
the Nemeth code in use today. It makes American Braille usage uniform, and
incorporates changes to the Nemeth code revision of
40 years ago.

BANA is moving towards adopting an older, outdated version of the Nemeth
code available.

Please sign a petition to preserve NUBS, and move blindness education on a
path to excellence. Let's bring the Nemeth system into the 21st century.
Let's give blind people a competitive edge. Let's move together towards one
Braille system for all Americans. Let's preserve NUBS.

The petition is available here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/braille-authority-of-north-america-adopt-a-b
raille-code-that-supports-general-and-technical-readers

Sincerely,

Antonio Guimaraes

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