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The Braille Code: Past - Present - Future

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The Braille Code: Past - Present - Future TThhee EEdduuccaattoorr VOLUME XXI, ISSUE 2 January 2009 THE BRAILLE CODE: PAST - PRESENT - FUTURE A Publication of The International Council for Education of ICEVI People with Visual Impairment PRINCIPAL OFFICERS FOUNDING NON-GOVERNMENTAL PRINCIPAL OFFICERS ORGANISATIONS DEVELOPMENT PRESIDENT SECOND VICE PRESIDENT American Foundation ORGANISATIONS Lawrence F. Campbell Harry Svensson for the Blind Asian Foundation for the Overbrook School for the Blind National Agency for Special Carl R. Augusto Prevention of Blindness 6333 Malvern Avenue Needs Education and Philadelphia, PA 19151-2597 Schools 11 Penn Plaza, Suite 300 Grace Chan, JP USA Box 12161, SE- 102 26 New York, NY 10001 c/o The Hong Kong Society [email protected] Stockholm, SWEDEN USA for the Blind [email protected] [email protected] 248 Nam Cheong Street FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Perkins School for the Blind Shamshuipo, Kowloon Jill Keeffe TREASURER HONG KONG Steven M. Rothstein Centre for Eye Research Australia Nandini Rawal [email protected] 175 North Beacon Street University of Melbourne Blind People’s Association Watertown, MA 02472 CBM Jagdish Patel Chowk Department of Ophthalmology USA Locked Bag 8 Surdas Marg, Vastrapur Allen Foster [email protected] East Melbourne 8002 Ahmedabad 380 015 Nibelungenstrasse 124 AUSTRALIA INDIA Royal National Institute 64625 Bensheim [email protected] [email protected] of the Blind GERMANY [email protected] SECRETARY GENERAL Colin Low Mani, M.N.G. 105 Judd Street Norwegian Association of the London WC1H 9NE No.3, Professors’ Colony, Palamalai Road Blind and Partially Sighted UNITED KINGDOM (NABPS) SRK Vidyalaya Post, Coimbatore 641 020, Tamil Nadu, INDIA [email protected] [email protected] Arnt Holte INTERNATIONAL P.O. Box 5900, Majorstua0308 REGIONALPRINCIPAL CHAIRPERSONS OFFICERS NON-GOVERNMENTAL Oslo, NORWAY [email protected] AFRICA NORTH AMERICA / ORGANISATIONS Wilfred Maina CARIBBEAN Deafblind International Organización Nacional de African Braille Centre Kathleen M. Huebner Ciegos Españoles P.O. Box 27715, 00506 Graduate Studies in Vision Bernadette M. Kappen Enrique Pérez Nairobi, KENYA 999, Pelham Parkway Brons Impairment, NCLVI C/ Almansa, 66 [email protected] New York 10469 Pennsylvania College of 28039 Madrid, SPAIN USA EAST ASIA Optometry [email protected] [email protected] Prof. Datuk Dr. Ismail Md Salleh 8360 Old York Road International University College of Elkins Park, PA. 19027, USA Sight Savers International World Blind Union Technology, Twintech Holdings [email protected] Caroline Harper Maryanne Diamond SDN BHD (260301-A) PACIFIC Grosvenor Hall, Bolnore Road Level 6, Block E, 454, Glenferrie Rd. Frances Gentle Haywards Heath Sri Damansara Business Park Kooyong, Vic. 3144 West Sussex RH16 4BX The Renwick Centre Persiaran Industri, AUSTRALIA UNITED KINGDOM Royal Institute for Deaf Bandar Sri Damansara [email protected] [email protected] 52200 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA and Blind Children [email protected] Private Bag 29 International Agency The New York Institute for Parramatta for the Prevention of Special Education EUROPE NSW 2124 Blindness Bernadette M. Kappen Hans Welling AUSTRALIA Christian Garms 999, Pelham Parkway Brons Visio, Amersfoortsestraatweg 180 [email protected] Wilhelmstr. 31 1272 RR Huizen New York 10469 THE NETHERLANDS WEST ASIA 64625 Bensheim USA [email protected] Bhushan Punani GERMANY [email protected] Blind People’s Association [email protected] LATIN AMERICA Jagdish Patel Chowk Vision Australia Lucia Piccione Surdas Marg, Vastrapur Glenda Alexander Urquiza 2659 - 5001 Cordoba, Ahmedabad 380 015 Visit us at: 454 Glenferrie Rd, Kooyong ARGENTINA INDIA Vic. 3144, AUSTRALIA [email protected] [email protected] www.icevi.org [email protected] consulting engineers in technology for healthcare www.weimed.de – [email protected] your low vision - partner! We talk with you in german, english, russian, greek, georgian, chinese, taiwanese Full product range of lowvision-products Magnifiers from cheapest simple form to high-tech with illumination with magnifications from 2x up to 14x. Monoculars from cheapest simple form to high-tech monoculars with magnifications from 3x to 10x also with reading stand. Electronical Magnifiers (CCTV) stationary and mobile solutions at home, at work, on the go. Talking devices for daily use Braille devices Headquarter: Wolfshovener-Strasse 77 – 79 52428 Juelich - Germany. Phone: +49 – 2461 – 347927 Regional Offices and Partners: Austria - Suisse - Baltic States - Russian Federation – Georgia – Ukraine - Spain JOMTIEN, THAILAND THE VENUE OF THE 13TH WORLD CONFERENCE OF ICEVI We are pleased to announce that the 13th world conference of ICEVI will be held in Jomtien, Thailand from 9 to 13 August 2010. The Education For All movement originated at a meeting of Ministers of Education convened by UNESCO, UNICEF and The World Bank in Jomtien in 1990. It is quite symbolic that ICEVI will hold its 13th World Conference at the same location some 20 years later to draw the attention of the world to the educational needs of all children with visual impairment. The Thai Host Committee, consisting of organisations of the Thai Blind Union and voluntary organizations, is headed by Pecharat Techavachara, President, Foundation for the Employment Promotion of the Blind in Thailand. The conference will be held at the Hotel Ambassador City, Jomtien, which has excellent facilities at a beautiful seaside location. Do mark your calendar to join your colleagues from around the world and be prepared for an excellent conference and a relaxed time. Editor Harry Svensson CONTENTS National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools 1. Message from the President 2 Box 12161 SE- 102 26 Stockholm 2. Message from the Editor 3 SWEDEN 3. Message from the Guest Editor 4 Associate Editor M.N.G. Mani 4. From Carvings to Computers: A history of 5 Secretary General, ICEVI Tactile Codes for people who are blind – Frances Mary D’Andrea Editorial Committee Harry Svensson 5. Taking Literacy in Hand: The Evolution 10 Larry Campbell and use of Manual Braille Writing Devices M.N.G. Mani – Judith M. Dixon Publications Committee Harry Svensson 6. Open Letter to Louis Braille 15 Peter Rodney – Pedro Zurita Cay Holbrook M.N.G. Mani 7. Braille: The Man and His Code for Music 19 – William R. McCann Our International Partners 8. A Uniform Braille Code for English 23 – Betty Nobel 9. Moving into the Future in Braille Production: 27 The National Instructional Materials Access Center – Nicole Gaines & Julia Myers 10. RoboBraille – Braille Unlimited 32 – Lars Ballieu Christensen 11. EFA-VI Global Campaign 38 – Profiles of the present focus countries 12. EFA-VI Preparatory Work 43 13. ICEVI Executive Committee Meeting 44 – Strategic Update 14. A Summit of Minds 46 15. Meeting with INGDOs to plan EFA-VI 47 Global Campaign in Latin America Designing and Printing ICEVI Secretariat 16. Meeting of the Programme Committee of the 48 No.3, Professors’ Colony 13th World Conference of ICEVI Palamalai Road, S R K Vidyalaya Post Coimbatore – 641 020 17. Update from the World Blind Union 49 Tamil Nadu, INDIA Phone : 91-422-2469104 18. Remembering Sir John Wall 51 Fax : 91-422-2693414 e-mail : [email protected] Guest Editor : Cay Holbrook VOLUME XXI - ISSUE 2 l 1 Message President Message from the President Washington, Maine January 1, 2009 Dear Colleagues: Today, as we ring in a new year we also begin a That little chat also leads me to share with you, year of celebration to mark the bicentennial of our loyal members and supporters, on this first the birth of Louis Braille. In a few days the first of day of the new year my hope that you have set many celebrations will begin in Paris with many ambitious goals for yourself and the children and others, large and small, to follow. I shall leave it youth that you serve. Alone we can do very little, to our Editor, Harry Svensson and the Guest Editor, but together we can change, in a very positive way, for the 2009 issues of The Educator, Dr.Cay the situation of the children we serve throughout Holbrook, to say a bit more about our plans. the world. Some of you who know me well are familiar with As we enter what will surely be a challenging year a very personal tradition I established for myself ahead, my new year’s wish for you is that you will many years ago. It all revolves around a have: conversation I have with myself every New Year’s Enough success to keep you eager, Eve as I look in the bathroom mirror to shave before heading out for whatever New Year’s Enough failure to keep you humble, festivities may be in my plans. Enough joy to share with others, Enough trials to keep you strong, During this little chat with “the man in the mirror” Enough hope to keep you happy, l examine what to me is a very simple but Enough faith to banish depression, fundamental question: “Can I point to significant number of visually impaired persons that are better Enough friends to give you comfort and off on this last day of the year than they were on Enough determination to make each day better. the first day of this year as a result of my work?” This year “my friend in the mirror” and I had a As always, rather long conversation. I will not bore you with the details of that discussion other than to say it really did help me to reflect, to focus and to set some ambitious targets for the new year that Larry Campbell begins today. President 2 l THE EDUCATOR Message Editor Message from the Editor Dear Reader, It is a new year – 2009. This is a year we start with The articles are collected by our guest editor very mixed feelings. All of us have heard about Dr Cay Holbrook, University of British Columbia, the problems the world economy is facing, yet we Canada.
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