Dave Williams, Chairman of the Braillists, explored how to use braille displays with various combinations of screen reader and web browser, unpicked some of the jargon that appears on the display, and explained how to navigate without a QWERTY keyboard or touch screen. This session was recorded on Tuesday 7 September 2021. For further information ... Read more

Most of us know about grade 2, of course, with its 180 contractions designed to make braille quicker to read and write and occupy less space. Grade 3 extends this concept still further with over 300 additional contractions, rules to allow vowels to be omitted, and provisions for reducing spaces and new lines. Whilst it’s ... Read more

In Using Braille on Windows, we introduced you to the basics of making a braille display work with various screen readers. In this session, we took this to the next level in the first of an occasional series of Masterclasses looking at the braille settings of a particular screen reader. This time it was JAWS. ... Read more

After a recap of octave signs and intervals, this session covered: Word signs Ties and slurs Phrase marks You can follow Stuart on Twittre (@stuartlawler)

Over the years, blind people have benefitted from incredible enhancements in the fields of electronic braille and accessibility in general. In fact, it’s now possible to purchase a fully accessible Amazon Fire tablet for under £50 which, pared with an inexpensive braille display such as an Orbit Reader, and Amazons Kindle store which offers access ... Read more

This week’s Masterclass has a more low tech flavour as we take a wander into the heart of the household. If you’ve ever wondered how to read braille recipes without ruining them or what to do when the label is too big for the jar, this session is for you. Emma Williams led the session ... Read more

In this session, we covered: Rests: quaver, crotchet, minim, semibreve and dotted versions of the above Clef signs: treble (G) and bass (F) Octave signs and their use Interval signs and their use A mid-month clinic will take place on Monday 14 June at 8:00 PM in the UK and Ireland. The next teaching session ... Read more

If you’re a blind Android user, you’re bound to have come across Steve Nutt at Computer Room Services. He’s blind himself, been in the accessible smartphone business for over 20 years, and has a vast amount of knowledge and experience when it comes to using smartphones with braille displays. We’re delighted that he joined us ... Read more

We’re starting to hear more and more about BRF files. They’re the default braille format on platforms such as RNIB Reading Services; they’re regularly used in the transcription industry to share braille versions of documents between producers; and notetaker users have used them to transfer files from one brand of braille device to another. But ... Read more

Topics covered in this session: Debunking some myths Notes and note values – quavers, crotchets, minims, semibreves and dotted notes Sharp, flat and natural signs Time signatures and their placement – 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, common time, 6/8, 9/8 Key signatures and their placement – D major (2 sharps), A major (3 sharps), B major (5 ... Read more