[Blindtlk] BANA Braille Excellence Award Honors Committee that Developed Tactile Graphics Guidelines

[David Andrews]

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>    Press Release
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>January 4, 2014­Anniversary of Louis Braille’s Birth
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>For Immediate Release
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>CONTACT: Frances Mary D’Andrea, Chair
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>Braille Authority of North America
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>Phone: 412-521-5797
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>Email: <mailto:literacy2 at mindspring.com>literacy2 at mindspring.com
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>Developers of Tactile Graphics Guidelines and Standards
>Honored with BANA’s Braille Excellence Award
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>The international committee that developed the 
>landmark publication Guidelines and Standards 
>for Tactile Graphics, 2010 was recently honored 
>with the Braille Excellence Award from the 
>Braille Authority of North America (BANA). 
>CBA-BANA Joint Tactile Graphics Committee, which 
>was co-sponsored by the Canadian Braille 
>Authority (CBA) and BANA, received the award on 
>December 5 in Providence, Rhode Island, in a 
>showcase session at the 2013 Getting in Touch with Literacy Conference.
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>The volunteer members of this collaborative 
>CBA-BANA ad hoc committee donated their time and 
>talents for nearly a decade, meeting by phone 
>almost weekly year round. Together, they 
>defined, refined, and established in writing a 
>comprehensive, user-friendly set of 
>research-based guidelines and standards for the 
>design and production of tactile graphics for braille users.
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>The members of the CBA-BANA Joint Committee on 
>Tactile Graphics honored with BANA’s Braille Excellence Award are:
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>Lucia Hasty, Colorado, USA
>John McConnell, New Brunswick, Canada
>Janet Milbury, Nova Scotia, Canada
>Irene Miller, Alberta, Canada
>Allison O’Day, Minnesota, USA
>Aquinas Pather, Ontario, Canada
>Diane Spence, Texas, USA
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>The publication of Guidelines and Standards for 
>Tactile Graphics, 2010, which includes a manual 
>and an accompanying supplement that contains 
>hardcopy examples, was approved by BANA in the 
>fall of 2010. The manual is available free of 
>charge on the BANA website at 
><http://www.brailleauthority.org/tg/index.html>http://www.brailleauthority.org/tg/index.html. 
>Hardcopy editions of the manual and the 
>supplement can be purchased from the American Printing House for the Blind.
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>The BANA Braille Excellence Award was 
>established in 2009 to commemorate the 
>bicentenary of Louis Braille's birth by 
>recognizing individuals and groups who have made 
>significant contributions to braille. It was 
>presented to Dr. Abraham Nemeth in 2009 and to Mr. Joseph Sullivan in 2011.
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>The extraordinary commitment and contribution of 
>the CBA-BANA Joint Tactile Graphics Committee 
>will have an immeasurable impact for braille 
>readers. Their work and dedication are truly 
>representative of the accomplishments that 
>BANA’s Braille Excellence Award was designed to recognize.
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>NOTE: This press release is available in HTML on 
>the BANA website at 
><http://www.brailleauthority.org/pressreleases/pr-2014-1-6.html>http://www.brailleauthority.org/pressreleases/pr-2014-1-6.html. 
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>For additional resource information, visit 
><http://www.brailleauthority.org>www.brailleauthority.org
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>The Board of BANA consists of appointed 
>representatives from seventeen member 
>organizations of braille producers, transcribers, teachers, and consumers.
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>The mission of the Braille Authority of North 
>America is to assure literacy for tactile 
>readers through the standardization of braille and/or tactile graphics.
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>The purpose of BANA is to promote and to 
>facilitate the uses, teaching, and production of 
>braille. Pursuant to this purpose, BANA will 
>promulgate rules, make interpretations, and 
>render opinions pertaining to braille codes and 
>guidelines for the provisions of literary and 
>technical materials and related forms and 
>formats of embossed materials now in existence 
>or to be developed in the future for the use of 
>blind persons in North America. When 
>appropriate, BANA shall accomplish these 
>activities in international collaboration with 
>countries using English braille. In exercising 
>its function and authority, BANA shall consider 
>the effects of its decisions on other existing 
>braille codes and guidelines, forms and formats; 
>ease of production by various methods; and acceptability to readers.
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