[nfbwatlk] Braille discussion in the Monitor

[Prows, Bennett (HHS/OCR)]

Hi Listers,

For those who are interested, here's the resolution that was passed at this year's NFB convention on the Braille code issue. You can find all of them in a word document at the NFB national web site.

/s/

Bennett Prows


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: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mary Ellen
Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2012 8:41 AM
To: 'NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List'
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Braille discussion in the Monitor

I'm sorry that I don't remember the precise issues, but at least three
articles on the Braille code and the rammifications on deciding whether and
how to change it have been published within the past year.  
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