Episodes
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Braille at University (Extra 86)
How might you use braille at university, and what funding is available to help you get it? Join Connor Scott-Gardner to find out! Connor has experience as an advocate, DSA assessor and university student. In this session, he shared: This will be particularly relevant if you are about to start a...
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Stay In Command: Customising Keyboard Shortcuts on Your iPhone or iPad (Extra 85)
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...
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The New Braille Features in iOS and iPad OS 26, Part 2: Braille Access (Extra 84)
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...
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The New Braille Features in iOS and iPad OS 26, Part 1 (Extra 83)
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...
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Using the Canute 360 with Duxbury (Extra 82)
You might be familiar with many functions of the Canute 360 from Bristol Braille Technology, but did you know it can work seamlessly with the widely popular Duxbury Braille Translator? When connected to a Windows machine, the Canute can output Braille text in real-time using Duxbury’s six-key...
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Games Galore: Braille and Tactile Games for All the Family (Extra 81)
You’re invited to pull up a chair at the Braillists’ Christmas party, where a friendly cast of characters discuss the games they play after Christmas dinner. Card games, board games, dice games and everything in between, we’ve got you covered. We discuss where to buy specially adapted games and…
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Introducing BUOC: Braille, User-Oriented Code (Extra 80)
The latest in our occasional series showcasing historical braille shorthand codes which you might still find useful today: Braille, User-Oriented Code (BUOC) was a code written by the late Australian, Rebecca Maxwell, with the support of Australian Braille Literacy Action (ABLA), formerly the...
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Untangling the Wires: Why Connecting and Charging your Braille Display with USB Doesn’t Always Work (Extra 79)
USB, or Universal Serial Bus, has been a feature of braille displays for over twenty years. Originally a standard for connectivity, it has evolved over time to also provide power and charging capabilities. However, if USB is supposed to be Universal, why are some chargers faster than others, and...
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Read Aloud With Confidence (Extra 78)
Reading aloud is a skill that is both terrifying and liberating. Adding braille to the mix presents unique challenges that can often get in the way of recognising significant progress. Along with reading speed and fluency, the one question we hear most often is: “How can I improve my ability to...
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Braille Screen Input: What’s New in iOS and iPad OS 18? (Extra 77)
Braille Screen Input has been overhauled! iOS and iPad OS 18, released on Monday 16 September, include the biggest refresh of Braille Screen Input since the feature was first introduced in iOS 8. Although you can, for the most part, still use Braille Screen Input as you always have done, the new...
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Beyond Bump-Ons: Creative Approaches to Tactile Marking (Extra 76)
Do you need an easy way to identify your shampoo from your hair removal cream? Do you want to avoid accidentally feeding dog food to your dinner guests—again? Does your granddaughter complain that you’ve covered up the print label on her favourite midnight snack with your “special dots”? Our…
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An Introduction To Arabic Braille (Extra 75)
This session, presented by Saima Akhtar, is designed to give you a Whistlestop tour of the fundamentals of Arabic braille. Rest assured, it’s not nearly as complicated as you think. By the end of the session, you will have more insight into the following areas: Please note, it will be much easier...
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The Best SD Card for Your Braille Display (Extra 74)
Many braille displays include an SD or Micro SD card slot. However, when it comes to purchasing a suitable card, there are so many options! Which is best, and which work with your braille display? In this session, we were joined by friend of the Braillists Ben Mustill-Rose to help make sense of...
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Introducing BrailleBlaster (Extra 73)
According to its website, “BrailleBlaster™ is a braille transcription program developed by the American Printing House for the Blind to help transcribers provide blind students with braille textbooks on the first day of class.” It uses markup from source documents to automate formatting, and...
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Fully Automated Braille Translation with RoboBraille (Extra 72)
Sometimes, you just need a BRF file with no fuss, even though you know it might have the occasional error or won’t be formatted quite as you’d like. RoboBraille is one solution to this problem. It works with a large variety of file formats including PDF, Microsoft Word and plain text, and…
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Free Braille Translators: Biblos, Sao Mai Braille and Send to Braille (Extra 71)
Following our exploration of braille translators during National Braille Week, we were delighted to be joined by esteemed assistive technology pioneer Dean Martineau. Dean is a long term braille user and has spent many years developing his own personal braille shorthand system. In this…
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Cheers Volunteers 2024 (Extra 70)
A message from our Chairman, Dave Williams, to thank our many volunteers this National Volunteers Week.
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From Print To Braille: A Deeper Dive Into Duxbury (Extra 69)
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: The Key to Accessible Word Documents (Extra 68)
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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The Braille Features of Supernova (Extra 67)
Supernova is a screen magnification and screen reading package from Dolphin Computer Access Ltd, based in Worcester in the UK. Braille display support is a core part of its offering, but we don’t hear very much about it. In this session, we were joined by Aj Ahmed, proprietor of AAT Solutions, an...
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Setting Up Braille Displays on Windows and iOS (Extra 66)
If you have a new braille display and you’re struggling to connect it to your computer, iPhone or iPad, or you have a new computer, iPhone or iPad and you’re struggling to connect it to your braille display, this session is for you. We covered: The pros and cons of Bluetooth and USB Pairing and…
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Adding Your Own Contractions to Your Screen Reader Using Liblouis (Extra 65)
Many screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA, make use of the popular, open source Liblouis braille translation engine as part of their braille display support. In this session, we explained and demonstrated how to harness the power of Liblouis braille tables to implement additional contractions…
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The Braille Shorthand Code (Extra 64)
“What’s wrong with grade 2?” In many cases, nothing. It strikes a good balance between compactness, readability and lack of ambiguity. However, in some cases, a code which is even more compact than grade 2 is extremely advantageous, especially when information needs to be written down at speed.…
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The New Braille Features in iOS 16 and 17 (Extra 63)
iOS 17 was released last September, bosting a number of significant braille enhancements. In this Masterclass, we were joined by Scott Davert to find out more. Scott is well regarded in the blind community as an expert in braille on iOS. He regularly contributes braille-related content to the...
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Tactile Diagrams at the Open University (Extra 62)
Getting tactile diagrams at University is often not as easy as it should be. However, the Open University has an excellent reputation for accessibility, and has developed robust processes for students to request diagrams and for those diagrams to be designed and produced. This session was…
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Braille Into Christmas (Extra 61)
As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, a few people joined us for a cosy fireside chat to round off the year on Tuesday 19 December. How do you write and address your Christmas cards? How do you know whose Christmas presents are whose? And what part does braille play in all ... Read more
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Transferring Content to your Braille Display (Extra 60)
Have you ever downloaded a book from Bookshare or Reading Services, but struggled to extract the zip file? Have you ever had a BRF file emailed to you, but not been able to copy it to your braille display? Does your braille display only support text or BRF files, but you want to read Word ...…
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Revitalise your Braille Reading Technique (Extra 59)
Whether you’re new to braille or an experienced braillist, reading is an important and fundamental process. To fully appreciate the brilliance of braille for use in daily life, reading is something you should enjoy and feel comfortable with. But what can you do to improve your reading skills once...
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An Introduction to the Orbit Reader (Extra 58)
The Orbit Reader range is now very extensive and comprises the Orbit Reader 20, the Orbit Reader 20 Plus and the Orbit Reader 40. On Tuesday 30 May 2023, James Bowden, Braille Technical Officer at RNIB, talked us through what these products can do, how they work, and the differences between Orbit...
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UEB Indicators: How to show capitals, bold, italics, underline and more (Extra 57)
“This new braille has so many extra dots!” This is something we hear a lot, and it’s often followed by the question, “What do they all mean?” This Masterclass will help to solve the mystery. James Bowden, Braille Technical Officer at RNIB, Chairman of the Braille Coding Group of the UK…
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Programming for the Canute Console (Extra 56)
There was a lot to cram into the last of our computer science-themed classes. We started with a quick refresher about what we’ve covered so far before taking a deep dive into what it takes to write software and build hardware with a particular focus on the accessibility elements of the process.
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Six Dots to Success: What Braille Means to Me and Panel (Extra 55)
The final recording from the recent Six Dots to Success conference held in collaboration with Sight and Sound Technology Ltd. This episode features:
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Six Dots to Success: Braille for Leisure (Extra 54)
The fourth of a series of recordings from the recent Six Dots to Success conference held in collaboration with Sight and Sound Technology Ltd. This episode features a recording of one of the breakout rooms.
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Six Dots to Success: Braille in Higher Education and Employment (Extra 53)
The third of a series of recordings from the recent Six Dots to Success conference held in collaboration with Sight and Sound Technology Ltd. This episode features a recording of one of the breakout rooms.
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Meet Hable One: the Portable Bluetooth Controller for your Smartphone (Extra 52)
Hable One is a powerful, fun and exciting way for you to interact with your smartphone or tablet using braille. As well as being a fully functional braille keyboard, supporting both grades 1 and 2, it also serves as a wireless remote control for every aspect of your smartphone or tablet, from...
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Six Dots to Success: Braille at School (Extra 51)
The second of a series of recordings from the recent Six Dots to Success conference held in collaboration with Sight and Sound Technology Ltd. This episode features a recording of one of the breakout rooms.
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Introducing Git (Extra 50)
According to Wikipedia, Git is a distributed version control system that tracks changes in any set of computer files, usually used for coordinating work among programmers collaboratively developing source code during software development. Luckily for us it’s far more interesting than it sounds on...
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Six Dots to Success: Welcome, Keynote and Braille for Beginners (Extra 49)
The first of a series of recordings from the recent Six Dots to Success conference held in collaboration with Sight and Sound Technology Ltd. This episode includes:
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Introducing Linux (Extra 48)
Linux: it powers everything from laptops to toasters, braille displays to coasters. You may have heard of the world’s most popular operating system if you follow technology related news, but what is it and how do you get started exactly? In the second of our computer science themed Masterclasses,...
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Festive Fun: More Christmas Pictures with a Perkins Brailler (Extra 47)
In our last Masterclass before the Christmas break, we’re delighted that Kim Charlson, Executive Director of the Perkins Library (part of Perkins School for the Blind), was able to join us again. Kim is author of the book “Drawing with your Perkins Brailler”, which includes step-by-step…
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Battle of the Braille Keyboards (Extra 46)
There are two well-known braille keyboards on the market today, the Orbit Writer and the Hable One. What are the similarities? What are the differences? Which one would suit your needs best? On Tuesday 4 October 2022, we were joined by a user of each keyboard. They told us more about how their...
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Getting to Know RNIB Reading Services (Extra 45)
Connor Scott-Gardner is an avid reader, and on Tuesday 6 September 2022 he demonstrated how to download books from RNIB Reading Services, transfer them to a braille display and read them. He also explained how Reading Services differs from other offerings from RNIB and elsewhere. For further...
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Braille Without a Braille Display: Braille Screen Input and More (Extra 44)
If you have an iPhone, iPad or Android device, it’s highly likely that you can braille in grade 2 directly on the touch screen and have it back translated instantly – a perfect replacement for the on screen keyboard. In this episode, Matthew Horspool and special guest Chris Norman demonstrate how...
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Formatting Your Braille (Extra 43)
It’s often said in the industry that garbage in = garbage out, but what does this mean in practice? On 17 May 2022, our Chairman Dave Williams held a conversation with Kawal Gucukoglu, who worked for many years as a braille transcriber at RNIB. They discussed the principals of effective braille...
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Braille Technology in Everyday Life (Extra 42)
In this session, Matthew Horspool explains how braille is still relevant in the 21st century and demonstrates how free and low-cost braille technology is significantly improving the independence and productivity of blind and partially sighted people of all ages. We paid particular attention to...
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Care and Usage of your Perkins Brailler (Extra 41)
The Perkins Brailler has been a staple in the lives of braille users ever since the first one was manufactured in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1951. To this day, the Perkins is widely considered to be the most durable braille device on the market, with machines over 50 years old still going…
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Braille on iOS, Part 3 (Extra 40)
We were delighted to be joined by Scott Davert, one of the most well-known authorities on the use of iOS with a braille display, for the third and final part of his exploration of this winning combination. Scott is the Coordinator at the Technology, Research and Innovation Center, part of the…
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Braille on iOS, Part 2 (Extra 39)
Following the first successful Masterclass, we were delighted to have been joined once again by Scott Davert, one of the most well-known authorities on the use of iOS with a braille display, to continue his exploration of this winning combination. Scott is the Coordinator at the Technology,...
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Braille on iOS, Part 1 (Extra 38)
Following our brief introduction to Braille on iOS last year, we’re delighted this year to have been joined by Scott Davert, one of the most well-known authorities on the topic, to explore this winning combination in more detail. Scott is the Coordinator at the Technology, Research and Innovation...
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Choosing and Setting UP Your Embosser (Extra 37)
In our first Masterclass of 2022, Matthew Horspool tackled the hows, whys and wherefores of braille embossers: choosing them, setting them up and making the most of them. The session covered: The purpose and function of an embosser and why you might want one Different types of embosser Different...
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