[il-talk] {Disarmed} Fw: United States Adopts Unified English Braille Code

[Linda Hendle]

            Hi all!  I thought this would be informative to you all, who read Braille!     linda

From: The Hadley School for the Blind 
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2012 4:18 PM
To: iwannacu2 at sbcglobal.net 
Subject: United States Adopts Unified English Braille Code

Dear Students,  
On November 2, 2012, the Braille Authority of North America voted to adopt the Unified English Braille Code (UEB) thus joining all other English-speaking countries in the adoption of this code. UEB will eventually replace the current uncontracted and contracted braille code (English Braille American Edition or EBAE). The U.S. will continue to use the Nemeth Code for Mathematics and Science Notation. UEB is based on the current uncontracted and contracted braille code. Letters and numbers will stay the same as they are in the current literary code. UEB eliminates only 9 of the 189 contractions and adds no new contractions. UEB simplifies some rules, changes a few punctuation marks, and introduces a few new signs like the bullet symbol for making lists.  

If you are a Hadley student enrolled in one of our many braille classes, you may wonder whether you should continue learning uncontracted or contracted braille. The answer is clearly "yes." First, transition plans will have to be developed and then an orderly transition to UEB will take place. This will take several years. Until the U.S. has a transition plan, teachers and rehabilitation personnel will continue to teach the current code. Braille reading children and adults will continue to learn and read the current code, and braille books, magazines and other materials will continue to be produced in EBAE.   

Even after the plan is adopted, all the braille books already produced will still be in circulation for many years to come. Once we have a transition plan, you will be able to learn to read UEB without difficulty if you know contracted braille and you will be able to quickly learn to write UEB. The time that you spend now to thoroughly learn contracted braille will make it easier to learn UEB later. To this end, all EBAE errors in your Hadley braille courses will continue to be marked as incorrect.   

We will take this code change in stride. Longtime braille readers, teachers and transcribers know that there have been regular changes to the literary braille code. The last code change was in December 2007 and Hadley updated our braille courses to incorporate these changes. What is different about UEB is that this particular code change also comes with a name change. Rest assured that Hadley already has plans in the works to teach UEB to braille readers as well as sighted professionals and family members. If you have not yet signed up at www.hadley.edu for eConnect, you may wish to do so. You'll receive emailed announcements of our seminars and new courses. 




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800-323-4238
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