[Nfbf-l] Message from The Hadley School: United States Adopts Unified English Braille Code

[Alan Dicey]

Dear Friends,
Passing this message from The Hadley School For the Blind along  to you.
With Best Regards,
Alan
Miami, Florida

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.
The Hadley School for the Blind
700 Elm Street, Winnetka, IL 60093
Toll Free Telephone: 800-323-4238
www.hadley.edu