Episodes
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MORE BRAILLE: MORE EMPOWERMENT – Launching the Global Braille Survey (Episode 79)
When we talk about braille, we often hear statements like: But how true are they? Help us on our mission to find out! A global braille survey has been launched by the International Council for Education of People with Vision Impairment (ICEVI) and the World Blind Union through their braille...
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More Braille: More Empowerment – A Live Virtual Conversation (Episode 78)
The official launch of the ICEVI–WBU Global Braille Literacy Campaign On behalf of the International Council for the Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI) and the World Blind Union (WBU), we are pleased to mark the official launch of the ICEVI–WBU Global Braille Literacy Campaign…
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Unpacking the Braille Innovations at CSUN 2026 (Episode 77)
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…
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Unveiling Canute Scientific from Bristol Braille Technology (Episode 76)
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...
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In Conversation with Scott Erichsen (Episode 75)
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...
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Irrelevant or Irreplaceable: Is the Perkins Brailler Really so Old-Fashioned? (Episode 74)
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...
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A History of Tactile Literacy: In Conversation with Tilly Guthrie (Episode 73)
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...
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World Braille Day 2025: HumanWare (Episode 72)
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...
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World Braille Day 2025: Aspire Consultancy (Episode 71)
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...
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World Braille Day 2025: Bristol Braille Technology CIC (Episode 70)
Bristol Braille Technology CIC is a not-for-profit organisation and the inventor of the Canute 360, designed in close collaboration with the Braillists’ community as the original affordable multi-line Braille display. Their latest product, the Canute Console Premium, is a tactile workstation for...
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World Braille Day 2025: Paige Braille (Episode 69)
Paige Connect is an affordable adaptation for your classic braille writer that connects it wirelessly to any phone, tablet or laptop for instant braille translation and gamified learning. The Paige Connect board is posted to you in a package that fits through your letterbox and simply replaces…
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World Braille Day 2025: Sight and Sound Technology Ltd (Episode 68)
Sight and Sound Technology is the leading supplier of assistive technology in the UK and Ireland, offering assessment, technology solutions, training and lifetime support so that their customers are able to make best use of the technology. They represent some of the world’s biggest names in the...
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World Braille Day Conference 2025 (Episode 67)
In this episode, we take you to New College Worcester and our first ever conference for World Braille Day. We feature recordings from both the morning and afternoon session, including:
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Perspectives from CSUN (Episode 66)
The 40th Assistive Technology Conference from the Centre on Disabilities at California State University, Northridge took place in Anaheim, California from Monday 10 to Friday 14 March 2025, bringing together manufacturers, distributors, educators, researchers and users from all over the world. As...
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Looking Back at the Tactile Reading and Graphics Conference (Episode 65)
The Third Tactile Reading and Graphics Conference took place at the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from Monday 2 to Wednesday 4 June 2025. The event brought together over 400 participants from around the world to discuss braille, tactile graphics and much more. The host...
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The Power of Sharing Our Blindness Stories: Six Little Dots to Six Major Marathons (Episode 64)
Our Chairman, Dave Wiliams, was thrilled to have addressed the American Council of the Blind (ACB) at their 64th Annual National Conference & Convention held in Dallas, Texas. On 10 July 2025, Dave delivered the keynote speech at the annual Convention banquet to a sold out audience. He called for...
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Braille On Display Launch Event (Episode 63)
We are excited to announce the launch of a new eBook! Whether you’re new to braille or you’ve been using braille technology for decades, choosing your braille display can be daunting. They’re so expensive, there’s so much to consider, and just when you thought you’d investigated all your options,...
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The Tactile and Technology Literacy Centre (TTLC), the Aotearoa Braille Music Initiative (ABMI) and Braille Music for Us (BMU) (Episode 62)
The Braillists Foundation prides itself on being a grass roots organisation; led by braille users, for braille users and, by extension, by blind people, for blind people. The Tactile and Technology Literacy Centre, based in Auckland, New Zealand, has a similar mission to the Braillists, and we…
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The Braille Authority of New Zealand Aotearoa Trust and the BANZAT Braille Transcription Course (Episode 61)
We start this episode in conversation with Maria Stevens, Chair of the Braille Authority of New Zealand Aotearoa Trust. We find out more about the work of BANZAT, the standards it has created and how it is helping to promote braille across New Zealand. We also discover more about the relationship...
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Ari Hazelman on Braille in Samoa (Episode 60)
Last time on Braillecast, we heard from Ben Clare about the challenges facing Pacific Island countries in terms of access to braille, and Ben’s experiences of visiting those countries to deliver training. One of the larger Pacific Island countries is Samoa, and thanks to a substantial fundraising...
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Ben Clare on Braille in the Pacific Islands (Episode 59)
Australia and New Zealand are the two most well-known countries in the Pacific Region, the area between Australia and Hawaii. The region also includes many other countries including Fiji and Samoa. Many of these countries are on small, remote islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are difficult and...
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The Braille You Need, When You Need It: A Special Event for World Braille Day (Episode 58)
Braille isn’t just for books! It can also be found on household products and signs; in restaurants, museums and theatres; and your personal and confidential documents can also be sent to you in braille. So how do you find it? Who do you ask? And if you think the braille you’ve found could be...
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From Print To Braille: Reading the Finished Product (Episode 57)
For many years now, Sight Scotland have championed National Braille Week, an opportunity to celebrate braille usage and raise awareness of the importance and value of braille. It runs in the second week of October, to coincide with World Sight Day. In 2023, we celebrated National Braille Week at...
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From Print To Braille: Choosing the Right Braille Translator for the Job (Episode 56)
For many years now, Sight Scotland have championed National Braille Week, an opportunity to celebrate braille usage and raise awareness of the importance and value of braille. It runs in the second week of October, to coincide with World Sight Day. In 2023, we celebrated National Braille Week at...
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From Print To Braille: What Should Our Braille Look Like? (episode 55)
For many years now, Sight Scotland have championed National Braille Week, an opportunity to celebrate braille usage and raise awareness of the importance and value of braille. It runs in the second week of October, to coincide with World Sight Day. In 2023, we celebrated National Braille Week at...
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CSUN Round-Up 2024 (Episode 54)
The 39th CSUN Assistive Technology Conference took place from 18 to 22 March in Anaheim, California, hosted by the Centre on Disabilities, Division of Student Affairs at California State University, Northridge. There were many exciting braille product announcements at the conference, and the…
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Catching Up with Bristol Braille Technology: Canute 360 and Canute Console (Episode 53)
Bristol Braille Technology CIC recently released version 2.1 of the firmware for Canute 360, the world’s first multi-line braille E-reader. Canute has come up in conversation many times before, but never specifically: what is it, and what can it do? In this episode, we sit down with Ed Rogers,...
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Multi-Line Braille in the Classroom (Episode 52)
The braille community is buzzing about the next generation of braille display: multi-line devices which can show anything from tables to tactile graphics at the press of a button are now a reality, and enthusiastic early adopters around the world are putting the technology through its paces.…
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Two Conferences in the Summer … Or Should That Be Winter? (Episode 51)
It’s an exciting time for braille as we approach the 200th birthday of the braille code, and the International Council on English Braille will be celebrating in style this year with its eighth General Assembly, the theme of which is “Two Centuries of Braille”. It will take place from Saturday 25...
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The Braillists at NFB 2023 (Episode 50)
The Braillists Foundation held a face-to-face meeting at the 83rd annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind at the Hilton Americas-Houston hotel, Texas, in July 2023. Our Chairman, Dave Williams, was there with a microphone to soak up the atmosphere. We spoke to: With thanks to…
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The Braille Doodle (Episode 49
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could just pick up a tablet of sorts, draw on it, and have the drawing in a tactile form? And wouldn’t it be even more wonderful if you could simply erase the drawing and start over if you didn’t like it? The Braille Doodle does just that, and we ... Read more
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CSUN 2023 (Episode 48)
Dave Williams, Chairman of the Braillists Foundation, and Ed Rogers from Bristol Braille Technology discuss the braille products to emerge from this year’s event.
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Braille Technology Throughout the Ages (Episode 47)
This episode focusses on braille technology: its past, present and future. We are joined by historians, people working in the braille technology industry today and developers of the next generation of braille hardware and software.
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How a Blind Musician and Programmer Developed the First Braille Music Translation Package (Episode 46)
The blind community is not without its fair share of innovators: Louis Braille himself, of course, alongside many others who brought us the braille code we know and love today. Elsewhere, the blind community has invented talking book players, screen readers, notetakers and so much more. For blind...
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Using Braille Displays with Phones and Tablets (Episode 45)
The Braillists Foundation recently held its first face-to-face event since the Coronavirus pandemic. In this episode, we catch up with some of the people who attended, and we also hear recordings of the three presentations which took place:
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An Evening With George Bell (Episode 44)
George Bell has been at the helm of Techno-Vision Systems for at least 35 years. In that time, he has brought many blindness products to the UK market, repaired numerous machines which would have otherwise been condemned, and provided countless hours of technical support. He is particularly...
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Braille in the Technology Industry (Episode 43)
On Tuesday 15 November 2022, we hosted an incredibly informative panel discussion around writing software and working in the technology industry in general when using a braille display. We heard from people in a variety of different IT rolls about the techniques they use, when they use braille…
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Six Dots to Success (Episode 42)
We are delighted to be collaborating with Sight and Sound Technology for our inaugural online conference to mark World Braille Day. Find out more in this episode, and register for the conference here.
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Braille for Beginners On-Demand (Episode 41)
Find out all about the Braillists Foundation’s new Braille for Beginners On-Demand programme in this archive of the launch event which took place on Monday 10 October 2022.
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How Perkins Braillers are Made (Episode 40)
In April 2022, our Chairman, Dave Williams, travelled to Boston Massachusetts in the US to run the Boston Marathon. While he was there, he took a trip to the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown and recorded a tour of the facility where Perkins Braillers are manufactured.
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What Happened at ICEB? (Episode 39)
The International Council on English Braille held its Mid-Term Executive Committee Meeting from 5-9 June 2022. As well as transacting various items of business, there were lively discussions around the history of braille, braille music, braille technology and the braille code itself. In this...
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What Happened at CSUN? (Episode 38)
The annual CSUN Assistive Technology Conference took place in March in California, and there were lots of exciting braille and tactile graphics announcements. We assembled a line-up of braille-using panellists who attended the conference who talked us through what was announced and gave their…
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Braille Around the World (Episode 37)
We know about braille in the UK, of course, and we regularly hear about braille in other developed English-speaking countries – the US, Australia, New Zealand and so on. But there are many other countries in the world about which we hear much less. How is braille taught? How is it produced? How...
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Focus Braille Displays, ElBraille and JAWS 2022 (Episode 36)
Freedom Scientific is perhaps best known for its popular JAWS screen reader, but it also manufactures the Focus line of refreshable braille displays. The first generation of these well-known units was released in the early 2000s, and now the fifth generation is available in 14, 40 and 80-cell...
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The BrailleSense 6 (Episode 35)
For at least the past 30 years, blind people have been well-served by notetakers: electronic, computer-like devices with a Perkins-style keyboard and speech and braille output. At their most basic level, they’ve functioned as an electronic brailler for composing documents and, of course, taking...
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Braille in Spain and Translating for the Spanish Foreign Ministry with María García Garmendia (Episode 34)
George Bernard Shaw, in his play Pygmalion, wrote that “the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.” That line has its roots in spoken language, though of course in English rather than Spanish! But what about written language? We quite often talk about braille being useful as a tool when…
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Kawal Gucukoglu on Being a Braille Transcriber and What Braille Means to Her (Episode 33)
Transcription, for anyone who doesn’t already know, is the process of taking content in one format and converting it into another. In this case, print is being converted into braille, a process ubiquitous in the production of braille books, magazines, bills, bank statements, legal documents and...
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Improving Reading Speed and Building Braille Mastery with Kit Aronoff (Episode 32)
It’s a question we get asked all the time – how can I read braille more quickly? To answer it, we were delighted to be joined on Tuesday 19 October by Kit Aronoff of Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and founder of Main Line Accessibility Consulting. Kit has a background in elementary...
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Braille: Connecting the Dots in 2021 (Episode 31)
Perhaps you’re thinking about learning braille, but don’t know whether it’s worth it. Maybe you learnt braille as a child, but haven’t used it since. You might know braille and want to use it in your daily life, but can’t work out where it will fit. Or you could be bamboozled by braille…
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Braille Displays and Other Products from Computer Room Services (Episode 30)
How many listeners remember Talks? The popular screen reader for Series 60 and other phones running the Symbian operating system. It first came to the market in the early 2000s, and perhaps its most well-known proponent in the UK was Steve Nutt, the man behind Computer Room Services. His…
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