Braillecast

The 41st CSUN Assistive Technology Conference took place from 9-13 March 2026, introducing an impressive assortment of new braille products! Everything from the most advanced notetaker to the simplest USB-only braille display was unveiled, alongside new developments in multi-line braille technology and braille labelling.

In this episode, join our panel of braille experts and enthusiasts as we round up the announcements and make sense of the ever-changing braille landscape.

Did you know you can connect a Bluetooth keyboard or braille display to any iPhone or iPad? It’s a great way of improving your productivity and efficiency.

However, there are some features which don’t have a keyboard shortcut assigned to them by default, and others where the default keyboard shortcut is hard to remember or difficult to press.

In this episode, we bring you highlights of a seminar recorded at Sight Village London in which Matthew Horspool shows you how to customise your keyboard or braille display shortcuts so that your iPhone or iPad best meets your individual needs, and shares some strategies for ensuring you can remember which shortcut you chose.

The podcast heard during the demonstration of changing the magic tap keystroke was Double Tap.

Apple released the latest versions of its flagship operating systems, including iOS and iPad 26 for the popular iPhone and iPad product lines, in September 2025. Amongst the many new features are a significant number of improvements for braille users in VoiceOver, the built-in screen reader.

In this, the second part of a two-part series, Matthew Horspool will devote the entire session to Braille Access, a new notetaker-like experience for connected braille displays. He will talk about:

Chapter marks have been added to aid navigation.

Apple released the latest versions of its flagship operating systems, including iOS and iPad 26 for the popular iPhone and iPad product lines, in September 2025. Amongst the many new features are a significant number of improvements for braille users in VoiceOver, the built-in screen reader.

In this, the first part of a two-part series, Matthew Horspool will lift the lid on what is new and changed for users of braille displays and Braille Screen Input. He will cover:

Chapter marks have been added to aid navigation.

Join Ed Rogers of Bristol Braille Technology as he lifts the lid on Canute Scientific, the next generation of multi-line braille technology designed specifically for blind people working, studying or exploring Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). Based on the already popular Canute Console multi-line braille workstation, but with an upgraded system board, new chassis, greater connectivity options, roadmap for future development and a suite of custom applications designed with feedback and advice from braille readers at the forefront, BBT truly believes this is their best product to date.

IN this episode, Ed will:

With thanks to Bristol Braille Technology CIC for sponsoring this episode.

Regular Braillecast listeners will know that I visited Australia and New Zealand in 2024, and we featured a number of interviews from that trip in the weeks that followed. One interview that we didn't feature at the time was with Scott Erichsen, an Australian assistive technology expert, musician and all round braille enthusiast.

As a musician, he is an accomplished jazz and classical pianist and regularly accompanies other musicians in concerts, exams and recordings. He qualified in jazz piano at Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

His technology career began when a UK company, T and T Consultancy, expanded its operations into Australia in the late 2000s. After being the figurehead of that operation for several years, he enjoyed positions at Quantum RLV, Pacific Vision International, Vision Australia, Next Sense, HumanWare, Guide Dogs Australia and the National Disability Insurance Agency, which administers the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

In this fascinating conversation, we discover more about Scott's musical and technological career, the part that braille plays in his life and work, and his perspective on the future of braille technology.

The “old-fashioned Perkins” is a term we hear (and perhaps use) a lot. Whilst it is true that it was invented over fifty years ago, the evolution in braille writing in the period leading up to the first Perkins Brailler being sold was immense, with dozens of braille writers coming to market. Some of them survived; some of them have been almost completely forgotten; but all of them have a story to tell.

In this episode, we are delighted to be joined by Alan Thorpe, Perkins repair expert and owner of the largest known private collection of heritage braille equipment in the world. We will explore how ideas around braille writing evolved over time, from stylus to Stainsby and beyond, and discover afresh why the Perkins Brailler is considered by many to be a timeless treasure.

Visit Eyecan, Alan's company's website

Victorian Britain was a heavily visual era. Sighted people gained access to the Penny Post, and the ability to communicate with friends across the nation with relative ease in an alphabet which was already well-established. On the other hand, for the blind community, many different tactile alphabets were invented simultaneously to address their exclusion from this culture, and blind education was completely decentralised.

Tilly Guthrie is a PhD researcher in the history of tactile literacy, specialising in the period between the invention of Braille in the 1820s and its eventual adoption in Britain at the end of the nineteenth century. In this conversation with Braillists Chairman, Dave Williams, she describes some of the tactile alphabets in use at that time and shows how their concurrence affected blind people’s access to culture and community and how blindness was perceived by the sighted.

Most of us by now have heard of the BrailleNote, Brailliant and Mantis, three of the leading braille products manufactured by HumanWare. Last year, they also launched Monarch, their brand new Dynamic Tactile Device, allowing multi-line braille and tactile graphics to be rendered on the same refreshable surface.

In this episode, we catch up with Braille Product Manager Andrew Flatres.

Many listeners to this podcast will already be familiar with the Orbit Reader, which has been available in the UK since around 2018. Orbit Research have since expanded their product portfolio to include a range of other braille input and output devices. However, RNIB recently took the decision to discontinue Orbit products, leaving many customers anxious and disappointed.

One company which has stepped into the breach is Aspire Consultancy, and in this episode, we're joined by its proprietor, Graham Longley.