Braille Index

• Description and History
• Louis Braille:biographies
• Legislative Initiatives
• Organizations and Advocacy
• Research
• Software and Educational Materials
• Transcription Services
  

Description and History

• Education of the Blind - Catholic Encyclopedia on CD-ROM
• About Braille: Canadian Braille Authority
• Who sets the standards and rules for braille?
• Braille and Other Tactile Reading/Printing Systems
• Braille: History, Use and Current Research
• Converting Information to Braille: General Description of the process
• BRL: Electronic Braille Programs
• Handbook for Learning to Read Braille by Sight (Amazon.com link)
• How Braille Began Enabling Technologies
• Scripts for the blind with descriptions of foreign brailles
• CNIB: The Braille System
• What is Braille:
  • AFB: Braille Bug
  • ACB    
  • AFB
  • International Braille Research Center
  • Deafblind.com
  • Arkansas School f/t Blind
• William Moon invented a method of reading and writing by touch using raised shapes.
• Download Braille and ASL Specialty Fonts
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Legislative Initiatives:

• NFB: Background on Braille Literacy Legislation
  • Legislative and Regulatory Information
• Internet Law Library Handicapped individuals and the law
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Louis Braille:biographies

• Duxbury Systems
• Louis Braille at Braillerman
• Louis Braille (Lives and Times)
• History of Braille
• Royal National Institute for the Blind
• Questions From Kids About Blindness
• Books on Louis Braille:
  • The Boy Who Invented Books for the Blind
  • Louis Braille (Lives and Times)
  • Out of Darkness : The Story of Louis Braille
  • A Picture Book of Louis Braille
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Organizations and Advocacy

• The Braille Development Section, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), Library of Congress administers a program of courses leading to certification in braille transcribing and proofreading
• Adult Braille Literacy Empowerment Guidelines by the American Foundation for the Blind
• Braille Authority of North America
• The Braille Forum is the monthly magazine of the American Council of the Blind. Besides this web version, the Forum is available in braille, audio cassette and large print.
• Braille Institute is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to eliminate blindness and severe sight loss as a barrier to the fulfillment of life.
• Canadian Braille Authority: "Promoting braille as a primary medium for blind persons"
• International Council on English Braille (ICEB)
• International Braille Research Center (IBRC) Resource Library
  • The Jewish Braille Institute of America a resource of information on blindness that it would greatly benefit the Jewish blind
  • Lutheran Braille Workers, Inc.: a non-profit organization devoted to providing braille and large-print Bibles and Christian reading materials to the blind and visually handicapped of the world.
  • National Braille Press: Catalog listing books, booklets, and reference cards
  • Internet Law Library Handicapped individuals and the law NFB
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Research

• Blind physicist creates better Braille: New Braille method may help visually impaired children pursue careers in math and science
• International Braille Research Center (IBRC) Resource Library
• International Council on English Braille
  • Unified English Braille Code: The largest project of the ICEB has been to develop a single Unified English Braille Code (UEB or UEBC) for both literary and technical purposes throughout the English-speaking world. See UEB Project Information.
  • 8-dot Braille Code: This project is to define a standard 8-dot braille code. See 8-Dot Project Information.
  • Tactile Graphics: This project is to coordinate research and write guidelines for the production of tactile graphics and related teaching methods. See Tactile Graphics Project Information.
• Dots Plus Project alternative to braille mathematics using a combination of 8-dot braille plus raised representations of some print symbols.
• Emerson Foulke at Braille Research Center of APH
• Publications of Susan J. Lederman Ph.D. in tactile psychophysics and haptic perception. The Touch Laboratory, a member of the Robotics and Perception Lab at Queen's University in Kingston Ontario is directed by Dr. Susan Lederman. Research in the Touch Lab has focussed for many years now on the sense of touch in humans. The work has examined how normally sighted and blind people come to learn about the world around them through haptic exploration and manipulation.
• SNOW Research Initiatives
• The Lighthouse Handbook on Vision Impairment and Vision Rehabilitation
  by Barbara Silverstone (Editor), Mary Ann Lang (Editor), Bruce P. Rosenthal
  Oxford Univ Press; ISBN: 0195094891 This monumental, two-volume work presents -- for the first time -- a comprehensive, interdisciplinary guide to the scientific, clinical, social, educational and policy issues related to the full scope of vision impairment and vision rehabilitation.
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Software and Educatonal Materials

• Braille Books and Aids at Amazon.com
  
• Braille Textbook Transcriber - Northwest Vista College and its partners have pioneered a new college curriculum in America .
• Braille Transcriber Q&A
• Braille with Pokadot
  Pokadot is a six-key direct keyboard input braille transcription program for sighted braille transcribers that has been approved by the National Braille Association.
• Braille Software for MacOS X
• Certification as a Braille Transcriber or Proofreader
• Future Aids- Braille Bookstore.
• BRL: Braille Through Remote Learning is a complete novice-to-expert braille education course of study on the Web offered by a grant project.
• Dancing Dots serves blind musicians and their educators through technology and training.
• Duxbury Braille Translator grade 2 braille translation and editing software with versions for DOS, Windows and Macintosh systems.(Duxbury Systems)
• NFB Braille - literacy, transcription, unified braille code, NFBTRANS
• Optical Braille Recognition: software that reads Braille and other softwares: Sighted.com
• SNOW (Special Needs Opportunity Windows) offers professional development for teachers through a number of free online workshops and courses, each moderated by professionals in the fields of special education, academic and adaptive technologies, and distance education.
• Tack-Tiles Braille Systems are interchangeble with standard international toy building blocks. They provide a unique bridge, a smoother, shorter,more interesting path to Braille literacy.
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Transcription Services
Northwest Vista College and its partners have pioneered a new college curriculum in America – Braille Textbook Transcriber. Professionally trained to transcribe and produce books and other written materials in braille, Braille Textbook Transcribers meet a critical and growing need.

• Braille Producers In North America
  
• A2i Transcription Services - Braille, Large Print, Tape and Disk
  Birmingham, United Kingdom
• Braille Plus Transcription Service
  Their motto is: "Every Format. Every Day. And, Everything Right!"
  Braille Plus, Inc.
  P.O. Box 3686
  Salem, Oregon 97302
  Phone: (503) 391-5335
  Fax: (503) 391-9359
  Email: service@brailleplus.net
  Website:http://www.brailleplus.net/
• Braille Jymico: production of graphics using raised contours and the first Canadian enterprise to produce musical texts in braille.
• Braille Transcription UK
  Url: www.brailletranscriptionuk.co.uk
  Email: enquiries@brailletranscriptionuk.co.uk
• Midwestern Braille Volunteers Organization Web Site, St. Louis, MO
• QUIK-SCRYBE transcribes documents, personal letters, menus, flyers, brochures, textbooks, manuals into braille.

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