BANA Braille Bits

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.