[nfb-talk] [BANA-Announce] Implementation of Unified English Braille (UEB)

[Mary Nelle McLennan via BANA-Announce]

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Implementation of Unified English Braille (UEB)
The following statement was approved by the BANA Board on November 9, 2014.

On November 2, 2012, the United States members of 
the Braille Authority of North America (BANA) 
voted to adopt Unified English Braille (UEB) to 
replace English Braille American Edition in the 
U.S. Based on extensive dialog and planning that 
involved more than 30 organizations as well as 
individual consumers, teachers, and transcribers, 
BANA established January 4, 2016, as the date by 
which the United States will implement UEB.
BANA is working toward implementation of UEB in four phases:
2013: Information year­BANA developed and 
disseminated information about UEB and gathered input from constituents.
2014: Infrastructure year­BANA and other 
organizations planned for procurement and 
production of braille materials in UEB and developed training materials.
2015: Instructional year­Readers, producers, and 
educators will become proficient in UEB.
2016: Implementation year­All new transcriptions 
will be produced in UEB; educators will teach the 
code. Devices and software will fully and accurately incorporate UEB.
As of the implementation date in 2016, UEB, 
Nemeth, Music, and the International Phonetic 
Alphabet (IPA) will be the official codes for use 
in the United States. BANA is providing guidance 
on how to incorporate the Nemeth Code into UEB 
context with the intent that the Nemeth Code will 
continue to be integral to braille in the United 
States. The document Provisional Guidance for 
Transcription Using the Nemeth Code within UEB 
Contexts is available as PDF and BRF files on the 
BANA website at 
<http://www.brailleauthority.org/ueb.html>www.brailleauthority.org/ueb.html.
BANA recognizes that in order to make an 
effective transition to UEB, states and 
organizations will need to develop customized 
implementation plans. To maximize efficiency and 
impact, BANA encourages widespread collaboration 
and sharing of expertise, resources, and training.
BANA continues to post and update information and 
materials about UEB at 
<http://www.brailleauthority.org>www.brailleauthority.org.
This document, Implementation of Unified English 
Braille (UEB), is posted on the BANA website at 
<http://www.brailleauthority.org/ueb.html>www.brailleauthority.org/ueb.html.

The Board of BANA consists of appointed 
representatives from seventeen member 
organizations of braille producers, transcribers, teachers, and consumers.
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.

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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