Press Release
October 26, 2015
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jennifer Dunnam, Chair
Braille Authority of North America
612-767-5658
chair@brailleauthority.org
On October 7, 2015, Braille Authority of North America (BANA) held its third UEB Transition Forum, bringing together delegates from more than 25 agencies and organizations from the braille community. The forum was held in Louisville, Kentucky, preceding the 147th Annual Meeting of the American Printing House for the Blind (APH). The centerpiece of the day was a guest panel that addressed the incorporation of UEB into assessment development by the nation's various assessment consortia. The agenda also included updates and progress reports from forum delegates and the BANA Board.
The BANA Board, which meets face-to-face semiannually, will hold its 2015 fall meeting November 5–7 in Crystal Lake, Illinois. This meeting will be hosted by Horizons for the Blind, a BANA member organization. Meetings will take place at the Horizons site, which is located at Suite A-103, 125 Erick Street, Crystal Lake 60014.
Items on the Board's agenda include the implementation of Unified English Braille (UEB) as well as detailed updates on BANA's numerous ongoing projects. The Board will review formal reports from all of BANA's technical committees such as music, braille formats, math, and tactile graphics, and its general committees and task forces, such as the UEB Transition Task Force and the BANA Publications Committee. BANA will take action on recommendations when appropriate.
As always, interested parties are invited to observe the BANA Board meetings. If you are interested in observing the BANA meeting, please contact BANA Chair Jennifer Dunnam at 612-767-5658 or by email at chair@brailleauthority.org.
The Board of BANA consists of appointed representatives from eighteen member organizations of braille producers, transcribers, teachers, and consumers.
The mission of the Braille Authority of North America is to assure literacy for tactile readers through the standardization of braille and/or tactile graphics.
The purpose of BANA is to promote and to facilitate the uses, teaching, and production of braille. Pursuant to this purpose, BANA will promulgate rules, make interpretations, and render opinions pertaining to braille codes and guidelines for the provisions of literary and technical materials and related forms and formats of embossed materials now in existence or to be developed in the future for the use of blind persons in North America. When appropriate, BANA shall accomplish these activities in international collaboration with countries using English braille. In exercising its function and authority, BANA shall consider the effects of its decisions on other existing braille codes and guidelines, forms and formats; ease of production by various methods; and acceptability to readers.