BANA Braille Bits

In this seventh episode of BANA Braille Bits, we hear from Dr. Judy Dixon who serves as President of the International Council on English Braille (ICEB) and who also represents the American Council of the Blind (ACB) on the Braille Authority of North America (BANA). Host Tamara Rorie, BANA Representative from the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) and Past BANA Chair, interviews Judy who shares highlights from ICEB’s 2024 8th General Assembly held in Auckland, New Zealand, in May. Judy also details information on the work of ICEB, the status of the ICEB rulebook, and resolutions passed at this quadrennial ICEB General Assembly.

For more information about ICEB, you can contact Dr. Dixon at the following email addresses: [email protected] for general questions concerning ICEB or [email protected] for questions on UEB.

Hosted by Tamara Rorie, representative of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, this episode of BANA Braille Bits highlights one of BANA’s Member Organizations, Hadley. Danette Johnson, the team leader of the Braille and Rehab teams at Hadley, shares how the mission of Hadley is to create personalized learning opportunities that empower adults with vision loss or blindness to thrive at home, at work, and in their communities. She also gives us exciting information on current and upcoming projects.

For more information on Hadley, call 800-323-4238 or visit hadleyhelps.org

Hosted by Tamara Rorie, representative of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, this episode features an interview with Jen Goulden, current Chair of BANA, who represents the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. Jen talks about BANA’s role, its member organizations, and gives a glimpse into what’s in store for 2023-2024.

This episode features an interview with Darleen Bogart, CNIB National Braille Convenor and long-time representative on the BANA Board. She looks back at the establishment of and early days of the Braille Authority of North America in 1976. Darleen reflects on the composition of BANA, projects and means of communication over the years. She brings the history of BANA forward and updates us on her current activities.

This episode features an interview with Dr. Robert Englebretson by Dr. Sandra Ruconich, chair of BANA's Outreach Committee. Dr. Englebretson is the recipient of the 2019 Darleen Bogart Braille Excellence Award. Dr. Englebretson is Chair of the Linguistics Department at Rice University in Houston, Texas. 

From 2005 to 2010, he served as the International Council on English Braille's U.S. Representative to UEB Committee for Foreign Languages and Linguistics, under the auspices of which he developed IPA Braille. IPA Braille presents an up-to-date braille notation for the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet, primarily aimed at braille-reading students and professionals in the language sciences, as well as braille transcribers wishing to produce braille versions of linguistics texts.

BANA Awards Darleen Bogart Braille Excellence Award to Dr. Robert Englebretson

An interview with the chair of BANA, Jennifer Dunnam. Discussion about the organization and some of the exciting work that is happening, as well as thoughts about braille and its future.

This podcast is an overview of the Braille Authority of North America (BANA). Sandy Ruconich, Vice-chair of BANA, is interviewed so you can learn a little about our organization: who we are, what we do, and how long we've been around.

BANA is the standard-setting body with regard to braille codes and formatting guidelines for both literary and technical material. It makes the rules for how braille is written and formatted in the U.S. and Canada.