Spring 2026

Braille Authority of North America

Spring 2026

Monday, May 11, 2026, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Tuesday, May 12, 2026, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Hosted by American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Meeting Location: The University of Pittsburgh 

Posvar Hall, Room 5602 

1. Call to Order: Jen Goulden

Jen called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M. Eastern Time.

2. Welcome: Jen Goulden

Jen welcomed board members and observers to the spring 2026 meeting. She reminded board members that she would make comments throughout the meeting as needed.

3. Welcome from our Hosts: Eric Bridges, CEO, American Foundation for the Blind, Dr. Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher, Dean, University of Pittsburgh School of Education, and Dr. Sirry Ulang, Interim Department Chair, Teaching Learning & Leading

Everyone expressed their happiness for the opportunity to host the BANA board; furthermore, they expressed their congratulations to the organization as it celebrated 50 years of supporting braille readers. Eric Bridges expressed his hope that the work of BANA will continue into the future.

4. Self-Introductions: Representatives and Observers

The following board members were in attendance:

  • Jen Goulden, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind), Chair

  • Wendy Buckley, Perkins School for the Blind, Vice Chair

  • Amber Pearcy, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Secretary

  • Marie Zaldivar, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), Treasurer

  • Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)

  • Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

  • Kyle DeJute, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

  • Mary Nelle McLennan (MN), Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) 

  • Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)

  • Hollie Knight, Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI) 

  • Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

  • Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)

  • Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB)

  • Georgie Sydnor, National Braille Press (NBP)

  • Susan (Sue) Reilly, Administrative Assistant

  • Holly Bullock, associate member Crawford Technologies

Not attending:

  • Brian Voeller, Foundation for Blind Children (FBC)

  •  Emily Coleman, Associate Member Council of Schools and Services for the Blind (COSB)

Observers:

  • Callie Brusegaard, U.S. Representative to ICEB

  • Betty Marshall
  • Diane Wormsley
  • Erin Weaver 

  • Sara Larkin 

5. Board's Liability Statement: Amber Pearcy

Amber read the following statement in her role as BANA board secretary: “BANA indemnifies its Officers and Board of Directors and holds them harmless from all claims of every kind, including court expenses, attorneys' fees, and the claimed amount arising from the performance of their duties as Officers and Directors except for their own acts of dishonesty and gross negligence. (Adopted March 30, 1987)”

6. Agenda Approval: Jen Goulden

Jen asked if there were any concerns or comments about the agenda; there were no issues raised. 

MSC: Amber moved to approve the agenda for the spring 2026 meeting. Jennifer seconded. Motion carried.

7. Approval of Minutes: Amber Pearcy

Amber reported that the board had received two versions of the March 16, 2026 meeting minutes before this meeting, including the latest version with all edits incorporated. No additional comments were made regarding the edited minutes.

MSC: Amber moved to approve the March 16, 2026 meeting minutes. Diane seconded. Motion carried.

8. General Committee on Digital Assets: Sue Reilly

Sue delivered the report as circulated.

Charge 411: This charge relates to documenting the process of updating the BANA website and performing maintenance on the website. Sue reported that she is creating documentation, but this is mostly in draft form. 

The website will need updates which are more technical in nature, and Sue will reach out to Pumex to request their assistance. 

Charge 412: This charge relates to overseeing and maintaining the infrastructure for BANA's listservs, website platform, and file storage. Sue reported that all information is updated as needed based on committee membership.

Charge 458: This charge relates to the creation of new sections of the BANA website and making other modifications to sections of the site as requested by committees. Sue reported that various changes have been made at the request of the General Committee on Unified English Braille. Errata documents have also been posted for the Nemeth Code and chemistry committees.

This charge also pertains to the creation of a page on the website for electronic copies of all meeting minutes. All available minutes have been posted, and Judy currently has electronic versions of minutes from 1979-1996 available for posting. She will continue to look for minutes from 1997-2003. 

Charge 482: This charge relates to optimizing BANA's email communications. Sue reported that no definitive decision has been made regarding whether to change BANA’s email communications from MailChimp to another platform. There is an ongoing problem concerning the submission of requests to subscribe to the BANA-Announce list, and a fix for this is currently under consideration.  

Charge 485: This charge relates to the investigation of existing out-of-date documents which should be removed from the BANA website. Sue reported that this problem was posed to ChatGPT, and the model made several suggestions which have not yet been pursued.  Discussion followed, and the board agreed that it will take some time to locate all of these outdated pages. Judy will contact the American Council of the Blind to find out whether some of these pages are still on their server dating back to the time when they hosted BANA’s website.

Judy volunteered to join the General Committee on Digital Assets. 

MSC: FM moved to add Judy Dixon to the General Committee on Digital Assets. Tracy seconded. Motion carried.   

9. Outreach Committee: Marie Zaldivar

Marie delivered the report as circulated.

Charge 357: This charge relates to BANA's ongoing creation of the Braille Bits podcast. Darleen Bogart is scheduled to be on the podcast this summer to discuss BANA’s 50th anniversary. The podcast will also continue to focus on each member organization, and the next organization representative to appear will be Brian Voeller of the Foundation for Blind Children.

Charge 382: This charge relates to BANA's continuing efforts to perform outreach through the creation of social media posts. The 50th anniversary member spotlights continue to be posted, and May’s featured organizations will be CTEBVI and APH. The report featured various statistics relating to BANA’s reach on Facebook ranging from October to April. BANA’s Facebook page has had 14,644 views during this time.

Charge 500: This charge relates to the creation of a position paper which uses the Braille Signage Guidelines to provide best practices to companies who create braille signs. Several factors were discussed regarding the creation of signage, including companies’ increasing reliance on AI to generate braille for signage. There was agreement that it is worthwhile to continue discussing and monitoring the role of AI in signage creation. However, consensus was reached that it is not necessary to write a position paper discussing signage given the recent release of the updated edition of BANA Guidelines for the Creation of Braille Signage

MSC: Jennifer moved to discard Charge 500. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 500 (10/22/2025): Create a short position paper using the signage guidelines as a basis with important points for signage companies to follow.]

Charge 501: This charge relates to the idea of hosting virtual open forums for stakeholders to discuss braille issues of interest. Judy mentioned the large number of attendees at the ICEB town halls. She highly recommended that BANA plan some open forums, as people are enthusiastic about braille and eager to engage with experts and likeminded individuals. The committee will meet this summer to discuss this charge.

10. General Committee for Review Process: Kyle DeJute

Charge 302: This charge relates to managing technical and board reviews of BANA publications and projects. There are no documents in process at this time.

11. Task Force on Questions to Committees: Kyle DeJute

Charge 488: This charge relates to making recommendations regarding BANA policies related to archiving and distributing questions submitted to committees. No action has been taken on this charge. 

It was suggested to remove the section for attachments and Rulings by Committee from the agenda template. Sue will make this change.

12. Bylaws Committee: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer delivered the report as circulated.

Charge 491: This charge relates to adding provisions for decision-making by task forces or other types of committees when consensus cannot be reached. Jennifer reported that the current bylaws, Section 6.2.2, states that a two-thirds majority rules when consensus cannot be reached in a technical committee. BANA Policies Section 5.5.4.1 states that a two-thirds majority rules when consensus cannot be reached during technical reviews of publications. Therefore, the committee recommends the addition of a sentence to the following sections of the Bylaws document to bring all other committees into conformance with the provisions which already exists: 6.3.1 (Board Committees), 6.4.1 (General Committees), 6.5 (Ad Hoc Committees), and 6.6 (Task Forces). The sentence reads: “When consensus cannot be reached, a two-thirds (2/3) majority of committee members is required for making recommendations to the board.”

No objections were raised to this amendment.

MSC: Jennifer moved to approve this amendment. FM seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved to change the disposition of Charge 491 from TBA to Done. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 491 (10/22/2025): Charge the bylaws committee to add provisions for decision-making in task forces or other types of committees when consensus cannot be reached.]

Charge 492: This charge expands the definition of the "waiting" disposition for committee charges. Jennifer provided the current definition of the “waiting” disposition: “This committee has done all that it can on this charge and has submitted the results to the Board for approval.” Clarification was provided to explain that at times, charges are "waiting" because of other actions that must be taken by another entity. The committee put forth the following proposal for modification to the definition for consideration by the board: “Progress on this charge awaits action from another entity.” A suggestion was agreed upon to amend the proposed language to read: "“Progress on this charge awaits action from the BANA board or another entity.”

MSC: Jennifer moved to accept the modified definition proposed in the report with the additional amended language to be added. Tracy seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved to change the disposition of Charge 492 from TBA to Done. Georgie seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 492 (10/22/2025): Charge the bylaws committee to expand the definition of the "waiting" disposition for committee charges.]

Charge 493: This charge concerns the assignment of mentors to new board members. The committee proposed that the assignment of mentors shall be added to the chair's assigned duties. This shall be reflected in a new section of BANA Policies, Section 3.2.13, to read: “Ensure that each new board representative is paired with a mentor from the board.” There were no objections to this addition. 

MSC: Jennifer moved to approve this proposal. Georgie seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved to change the disposition of Charge 493 from TBA to Done. FM seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 493 (10/22/2025): Charge the bylaws committee to add assignment of mentors to new board members to the chair responsibilities.]

Charge 503: This charge relates to the incorporation of the modified criteria of consideration for the Darleen Bogart Braille Excellence Award. The modification in question adds the phrase “or guidelines” to the criteria. The committee proposed making this modification to Appendix I of the BANA Policies. There were no objections to this wording change.

MSC: Jennifer moved to change the disposition of Charge 503 from TBA to Done. FM seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 503 (10/22/2025): Incorporate the newly approved language adding "or guidelines" to the Awards criteria into the BANA policies.]

Charge 505: This charge relates to the recommendation of parameters around requests for the BANA board to sign onto advocacy letters. The committee recommended that BANA's membership organizations should speak for themselves in most cases. BANA should only consider issuing or signing advocacy letters when the standard-setting mission of BANA is directly impacted; furthermore, such a decision should only be made when there is significant time for deliberation. A question was raised about the reason for including the condition of time for deliberation. Jennifer explained that this would allow for member organizations to reach agreement before signing a letter as a board. The committee proposed amending Policies Section 7.6 by renumbering the existing content of this section as 7.6.1 and adding a new 7.6.2 reading as follows: “The Braille Authority of North America shall initiate or become a signatory to an advocacy-related communication only when such communication impacts the mission of BANA, and only when there is opportunity for board deliberation, so that board representatives may reflect the positions taken by the organizations they represent.”

MSC: Jennifer moved to approve this proposal. Amber seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved to change the disposition of Charge 505 from TBA to Done. Georgie seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 505 (12/15/2025): Recommend parameters for the BANA board regarding signing onto advocacy letters.]

13. Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling: Kim Charlson

Jen delivered the report as circulated.

Charge 259: This charge relates to responses to inquiries regarding braille signage. The committee receives frequent questions about braille signage. The committee refers people to the BANA Guidelines for the Creation of Braille Signage as appropriate.

Charge 346: This charge relates to the review of the ICC A117.1 Standard, which is a section of the United States architectural code used in the design of accessible spaces and elements for those with visual, hearing, and other physical disabilities.  The purpose of this review is to determine if any changes need to be made to this section of the architectural code to comply with UEB. This charge was put on hold in the fall, but the disposition was unchanged because the board did not have an official disposition of waiting at that time. 

The suggestion was made that this may not be the ideal time to undertake such a review and to advocate for any modifications due to the current political environment in the United States. However, agreement was reached that this charge should remain with this committee until a future opportunity to make such recommendations is at hand. 

MSC: Jennifer moved to change the disposition of Charge 346 from “Waiting?” to Waiting. Judy seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 346 (11/1/2018): Review the ICC A117.1 Standard, American National Standard, to determine if this architectural code needs to be changed to comply with Unified English Braille.] 

Charge 416: This charge relates to the need to update the “Size and Spacing of Braille Characters” position paper to reflect updated standards, titles, and numbering. After discussion of the current recommendations for the size and spacing of braille characters, board members agreed that this document is not out of date. The reason for the delay in reconciling this charge was the upcoming update of the NLS Braille Specification 800; however, Amber clarified for the board that the National Library Service Specification 800 update will not change the current guidance given to braille producers regarding size and spacing of braille characters. 

MSC: Jennifer moved to discard Charge 416. Judy seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 416 (11/14/2022): Update the "Size and Spacing of Braille Characters" position paper to reflect updated standards, titles and numbering.]

The question was raised about whether the consumer organizations can do more to advocate for upkeep of signage, as well as tracking and reporting errors found in signage. Jennifer reported that NFB plans to release a document in which the organization provides recommendations for addressing these issues. She will keep the board apprised when this document becomes available. 

14. Tactile Graphics Technical Committee: Aquinas Pather

Diane delivered the report as circulated.

Charge 202: This charge relates to the committee’s availability to respond to questions and inquiries regarding tactile graphics. The committee continues to respond to such queries. 

Kyle reported that the production process for the braille version of the Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics 2022 and the updated Tactile Graphics Supplement should be complete within a month. However, the products will not be available for sale until later in the year. 

15. Publications Committee: Mary Nelle McLennan and Jen Goulden

Mary Nelle delivered the report as circulated.

Charge 469: This relates to the update of BANA's authoring guidelines. The committee has begun to look at the guidelines and will be soliciting feedback from other committees regarding the changes needed.

Charge 498: This relates to the collaboration with the Nemeth Code Technical Committee to prepare the approved Errata to The Nemeth Braille Code 2022 for posting on the BANA website. This document has been posted.

MSC: Mary Nelle moved to change the disposition of Charge 498 from TBA to Done. FM seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 498 (10/22/2025): Work with the Nemeth Committee to prepare the newly approved errata for posting.]

Charge 499: This relates to the collaboration with the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry to prepare the Errata to Chemical Notation Using the Nemeth Braille Code 2023 for posting on the BANA website. This document has been posted to the website.

MSC: Mary Nelle moved to change the disposition of Charge 499 from TBA to Done. Georgie seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 499 (10/22/2025): Work with the Chemistry committee to prepare the newly approved Chemistry errata document for posting.]

16. Braille Formats Technical Committee: Cindi Laurent

Hollie delivered the report as circulated.

Charge 305: This charge relates to responding to questions and inquiries. The committee continues to do so.

Charge 465: This charge relates to the full revision of braille formats: principles of print-to-braille transcription 2016. The updates are in progress. The first two sections are under review by the committee consultant. The committee continues to have thoughtful discussion but reports that this is a slower process than hoped. They believe that sections 10 and 11 will require the most work. 

Section 2 has been divided into two sections: Sections 2 and 3. Furthermore, a section on icons has been added.

Overall, the committee hopes to clarify the intent of the guidelines and clean up much of the wording that currently causes confusion. They appreciate the board’s willingness to pre-approve some of their changes thus far.

Charge 466: This charge relates to ensuring that the Braille Formats Technical committee is in regular communication with the General Committee on Unified English Braille to consider the inclusion of formatting for technical material in the revised formats guidelines. The two committees have communicated regarding several topics and believes that the communication has been helpful to ensure that both committees are on the same page.

Charge 475: This charge relates to communication between the Braille Formats Technical committee and the ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests to keep the committee apprised of any updates that could affect the standardized test guidelines. This communication has occurred, and both committees are going in the same direction.

Charge 477: This charge relates to the preparation of a document listing items for pre-approval before the full review of the revised formats guidelines. This is ongoing. The committee requested the board’s permission to submit the new guidelines in sections for review. The board was not in favor of this plan and would rather review the document in its entirety. It was suggested that the board could consider dividing the document into sections during the review process for careful consideration. 

The committee asked if the board approved of rearranging the sections pertaining to front and back matter so that the back matter section appears after the section on front matter. This back matter section would include the alphabetic reference section and would be expanded to discuss additional back matter. The board had no objection to the reorganization of this material.

17. General Committee on Languages Other than English: Jen Goulden

Jen delivered the report as circulated.

Charge 415: This relates to responding to inquiries and questions. No questions have been received since the fall meeting. 

Jen informed the board that information about the Navajo and Mi’kmaw braille codes has been submitted to Kim Charlson for inclusion on the World Braille Usage page located on the Perkins School for the Blind website. 

18. Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry: Cary Supalo

FM delivered the report as circulated.

Charge 468: This relates to responses to questions and inquiries. The committee has received several questions and continues to respond.

Charge 496: This charge refers to the errata document which needed to be posted on the BANA website. The errata to Chemical Notation Using the Nemeth Braille Code 2023 has been posted to the website.

MSC: FM moved to change the disposition of Charge 496 from TBA to Done. Tracy seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 496 (10/22/2025): Work with the Publications Committee to prepare the errata document for posting on the Web site.]

Kyle confirmed for the board that the hard copy braille version of Section 10 of Chemical Notation Using the Nemeth Code 2023 is now available for sale through APH.

19. International Council on English Braille: Callie Brusegaard / Judy Dixon

Callie delivered the report as circulated.

During this report, Judy announced to the board that the ICEB executive midterm meeting will be held virtually from August 9-13, 2026.

Callie informed the board that Section 1.7 of The Guidelines for Technical Material has been posted to the ICEB website.

The Code Maintenance Committee has approved the completed update to Section 6.1.1 of The Rules of Unified English Braille 2024, which is the section about the visible space.

Callie’s report also discussed ICEB’s participation on the Global Braille Literacy Campaign in partnership with the World Blind Union and International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment. More details on this campaign were provided by FM and Judy during the discussion of international initiatives.

Callie reported that James Bowden has been appointed chair of the ICEB Committee on Music Braille.

20. International Initiatives:

FM and Judy provided the board with detailed information about their participation in the activities being conducted as part of the Global Campaign for Braille Literacy. The campaign will last for two years, with the goal of promoting braille through activities of three specialized working groups. The three areas of focus for this campaign are research, resources, and public relations. ICEB has a representative in each of these working groups. The groups are meeting frequently.   

Resources: Judy represents ICEB in this group. They have identified 18 broad categories related to braille resources and are now collecting information about these resources.

Research: FM represents ICEB in this group. She reported that the committee is creating a survey to collect data from the following groups: blind adults, teachers of the blind, transcribers, and caregivers of braille readers. One individual could potentially take all four surveys if they fell into all of the categories. The survey will be distributed worldwide. The research group hopes to collect data from countries that are lacking in resources and are often underrepresented in the field of research on braille readers. They are particularly interested in gaining more insight to challenges related to braille. The research group would ultimately like to publish their findings in as many academic journals as possible. The surveys will be available online in numerous languages, and assistance will be available to participants who do not have internet access. At this time, the goal is to have the surveys ready for distribution by the fall.

Jen reported that Braille Literacy Canada will hold its annual virtual symposium on May 22, 2026.

21. Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests: Kyle DeJute and Frances Mary D'Andrea

Kyle and FM delivered the report as circulated.

The committee will meet in-person in Pittsburgh from May 13—16, 2026.

Charge 408: This relates to the creation of a set of guidelines for the transcription of standardized tests. The committee meets regularly to work on this charge. Subcommittees have also been created to work on specific sections of the guidelines document which will then be reviewed by the full committee. The committee has agreed on the 10 sections which will comprise the guidelines, and they have created rough drafts of sections 1-3.  The committee hopes to have five of the 10 sections completed by the end of their in-person meeting. 

Charge 476: This relates to the communication between the Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests and the Braille Formats Technical Committee to ensure that there is no conflict between the braille formats guidelines and the standardized test guidelines. One such example of the content of these communications has been about the formatting of tests and textbooks. 
The standardized test committee recommends placing all source citations on a separate reference page at the beginning of the test. They have been working with the formats committee to align both sets of guidelines so that the recommendations for textbooks match those for tests. Some discussion was had amongst the board as to whether the placement of source citations was important to alter for tests, but ultimately, it was decided that the committee’s final recommendations would be reviewed once the guidelines are completed.

Several board members asked that the committee take into consideration the guidelines for transcriber’s notes in tests which provide important information such as picture descriptions to clarify that any transcriber's notes should not test the student on their ability to read or comprehend a language which is not their first language; in most cases, this applies to tests which are transcribed in another language, such as Spanish.

22. General Committee on Unified English Braille: Wendy Buckley

Charge 272: This charge tasks the committee to answer questions from braille readers and producers about Unified English Braille. The committee remains prepared to respond to inquiries should they arise. 

Charge 274: This charge tasks the committee to serve as a liaison between the BANA board and the Code Maintenance Committee of the International Council on English Braille. Several members of the General Committee on Unified English Braille regularly share information with this committee which they learn through their participation in ICEB. 

Charge 308: This charge relates to the compilation of code-related issues and recommendation to the Code Maintenance Committee for their action. No new requests have been submitted to the Code Maintenance Committee at this time; however, there are seven recommendations dating back to 2017 which have not yet been addressed by the Code Maintenance Committee. These issues were discussed at length by the board and have been ranked in order of importance:

  1. Add strikethrough indicators to the list of defined typeform indicators in UEB §9.
  2. Consider the creation of braille symbols to represent the most commonly used emoji.

  3. Address the question of whether cross symbols should be transcribed according to their purpose or by simply following print.  

  4. Clarification of The Rules of Unified English Braille Section 10.10.9 to take into account chemical nomenclature. (Note that while this is placed at number four on the priority list, the board would like to know soon if this clarification will not be made within the rules.)

  5. Add explanation in The Rules of Unified English Braille to clarify the use of the line continuation indicator when a symbols-sequence is too long for one braille line.
  6. Add more explanation in the Guidelines for Technical Material about the use of the vertical juxtaposition indicator vs. the symbol which indicates directly above/below.
  7. Adjust the Guidelines for Technical Material §11.3 around the requirement for grade 1 indicators when other rules do not make the symbol's grade 1 meaning clear

General Consensus: The BANA chair will communicate this prioritized list to the chair of the Code Maintenance Committee in writing and will also raise this issue at the next executive meeting of the International Council on English Braille.

Charge 463: This relates to the update of the Provisional Guidance document for Transcribing Math in UEB. This document was provided to the board for their review prior to this meeting. The committee has updated this document to include examples from the most recent update to the Guidelines for Technical Material Section 1.7 which provide clarification on the use of grade 1 indicators in mathematical expressions. Furthermore, the committee recommended that the title of the document should be changed to reflect that the scope of materials which are addressed also includes those of a scientific nature. The board agreed with this recommendation. 

MSC: Wendy moved to amend the title to Guidance on Transcribing Mathematics and Science in UEB. Georgie seconded. Motion carried.

This document was provided to the board for their review prior to the spring meeting.

MSC: Wendy moved that the board approve the document Guidance for Transcribing Mathematics and Science in UEB. FM seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Wendy moved to change the disposition of Charge 463 from Ongoing to Done. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 463 (5/13/2024): Update the Provisional Guidance for Transcribing Math in UEB document.]

It was determined that a BRF version of this newly approved document needs to be created, and the description of the document must be updated.

MSC: Jennifer moved that the General Committee on Unified English Braille should work with the Publications Committee to post BRF and PDF versions of the Guidance for Transcribing Mathematics and Science in UEB on the BANA website. FM seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved to charge the Publications Committee to work with the General committee on Unified English Braille to publish the newly approved Guidance for Transcribing Mathematics and Science in UEB and to ensure that PDF and BRF versions of the document are posted on the BANA website. Wendy seconded. Motion carried. 

A press release will be created to announce this document.

Charge 479: This charge relates to the committee’s monitoring of the resources posted in the UEB Information section on the BANA website to ensure that they remain current. The committee continues to monitor this section and to repair and report broken or outdated links as they are discovered. In addition, they have moved outdated documents which reference the implementation of UEB, the background of the UEB project, and other example documents to the Historical Documents section of the BANA website.

The committee requested a new charge to monitor ICEB Guidelines for Technical Materials and BANA Braille Formats: Principles of Print-to-Braille  Transcription 2016 so as to periodically apply relevant updates to the Guidance on Transcribing Mathematics and Science in UEB document.

MSC: Wendy moved to charge the committee to monitor updates to ICEB’s Guidelines for Technical Material and BANA’s Braille Formats: Principles of Print-to-Braille  Transcription 2016  so that relevant updates may be applied to Guidance on Transcribing Mathematics and Science in UEB. Jennifer seconded. Motion carried.

23. General Committee on Electronic Braille Translation: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer delivered the report as circulated.

Charge 322: This relates to keeping the board updated about the progress and challenges of implementing UEB in braille translation software; about relevant innovations in braille technology; and about how these factors influence the work of the BANA board. One item of progress with JAWS and refreshable braille is that Computer Braille Code is no longer required in a "save as" dialog when entering a file name.

Given that this was the only update to JAWS regarding braille translation since the fall of 2025, the question was raised about the possibility of increasing the pressure on Vispero to encourage more progress with JAWS and braille translation. It was suggested that an effort could be coordinated between this committee and the Braille Technology Committee of ICEB.

Charge 426: This relates to ensuring that the log which documents reports of braille translation problems is kept up-to-date on the BANA website. Jennifer clarified that this document is not a log anymore; rather, it is a summary document of various issues relating to electronic braille translation. Jennifer informed the board that updates to this document remain ongoing. One board member reported an issue to be added to this document: a problem in the Braille 2000 software with the incorrect placement of font attribution indicators such as italics during translation.

Jennifer and Sue have discussed the idea of posting this new iteration of the document under the BANA Position Statements section of the website. However, before this can be done, they suggested changing the name of this section to BANA Position statements and Status Updates. In response to this idea, the point was made that some transcribers currently find this particular section of the website confusing. To mitigate this, it was suggested that BANA fact sheets could be moved to the Codebooks and Guidelines section; however, other board members felt that while codebooks, guidelines, and fact sheets are related, fact sheets do not hold the same status as codebooks and guidelines. Therefore, agreement was reached that fact sheets would remain here and that the title of this section of the website would be changed to BANA Position Statements, Fact Sheets, and Status Updates. There was also consensus that the document identifying problems with braille translation software will also be posted here.

MSC: Jennifer moved to charge the General Committee on Digital Assets to clarify the name and the structure of the BANA Position Statements, Fact Sheets, and Status Updates section of the website. Georgie seconded. Motion carried. 

Charge 454.1: This charge relates to the collaboration of this committee with the ICEB Technology Committee to identify and remove continued barriers to accurate braille-to-print and print-to-braille translation. Jennifer reported that Willow Free has been named the new chair of the ICEB Braille Technology committee.  Jennifer would like to initiate a meeting between herself, Willow, and Judy to coordinate the efforts outlined in this charge. 

Judy reminded the board that because the technology committee is not solely US-based, the board may need to eventually include braille authorities from other countries in these efforts.

Charge 480: This charge concerns the committee’s participation with the DAISY Consortium in the creation of the eBraille standard and updating the board on progress in the development of this standard. Jennifer reported that the first iteration of this file standard, eBraille 1.0, was released in august 2025. In early 2026, APH released a BRF to eBraille conversion tool; however, this tool will likely be updated soon, which means that converting large batches of files to eBraille is not currently recommended. Braille translation software manufacturers, such as Duxbury, Braille 2000, and BrailleBlaster, are working to incorporate support for saving and creating files in the eBraille standard into software updates.  eBraille files can currently be accessed on the Monarch, Brailliant, Chameleon 20, and Mantis Q40 braille devices (Humanware).

Charge 480: This charge tasks the committee with contacting ViewPlus, Braille 2000, and other companies that create braille fonts to request that Unicode braille glyphs be added to their available braille fonts. This charge remains ongoing. Jennifer informed the board that a document from 2025 which details all of the current issues regarding Unicode braille dot patterned glyphs is available to board members upon request. In creating this document, a new problem with inconsistent spacing of Unicode characters was discovered when viewing PDF documents in Acrobat with JAWS. This problem does not occur when viewing PDFs in a browser or with other screen readers. It also occurs when viewing ASCII braille in PDFs. The committee will notify the JAWS team of these problems. 

There was discussion regarding an email communication about a problem which occurs when viewing certain mathematic equations which span more than one line when shown on refreshable braille displays. The spacing of the equations is such that the line breaks do not always occur, leading to confusion about the way the equation should be read. It was agreed that the issue warrants discussion with screen reader manufacturers to make sure that the equations are properly shown when equations take up multiple lines.

24. Braille and AI discussion:

Using AI to translate braille is becoming more common, and it is important for BANA to have a position on this issue. Following is a summary of the board’s discussion. 

Board members agreed that using AI to create braille may lead to a false sense of quality and accuracy particularly among individuals who are not familiar with the process of producing braille. There is currently no known AI program which translates braille correctly; some programs do a decent job with the actual translation, but the formatting is incorrect. There was agreement that AI braille translation will only improve with feedback and data. The board agreed that it is unrealistic to expect that AI will never be used to perform translation tasks; therefore, if AI is used, thorough review and correction by a braille reader should be strongly encouraged. Perhaps it would be possible for the corrected translation to be fed back into the AI model so that the model can learn from the corrected translation.

One board member reported that one of the most prevalent current issues with AI translation is the incorporation of outdated rules and guidelines from EBAE. A suggestion was made that BANA may want to create a list of commonly encountered problems when using AI, and it will be important to make note of which LLM is being used when the problem occurs. Results vary based on the AI model being used; some are more accurate and up-to-date than others. It is important to note that this will be a living document because of the rapidly changing landscape. Regarding documentation, the suggestion was also made that BANA should try to work with AI programmers to guide the future of braille translation, as well as provide reputable sources for the AI models. Furthermore, BANA could recommend best practices for individuals to keep in mind when utilizing AI to create braille, such as making sample prompts available. Callie Brusegaard and Georgie Sydnor expressed interest in helping with the creation of documentation about braille and AI. 

MSC: Jennifer moved to charge the General Committee on Electronic Braille Translation to work with Callie Brusegaard and Georgie Sydnor to create a fact sheet about braille and AI to bring to the board by August. Georgie seconded. Motion carried. 

Board members are not completely opposed to the use of AI. It is not a trustworthy method of braille creation at this time, but it has potential in the future. There could be uses for AI when checking contraction usage, formatting, etc.

One trend worth following is the use of AI in academic programs which train teachers of braille. Certain federal grants utilized by these programs now include language in the grant applications which encourages the incorporation of AI into braille training courses. 

25. BANA's Position on 3D Printing: 

The board had the opportunity to look at a variety of 3D printed objects created by a few of our organizations and board members. After examining the samples, we had a discussion, summarized below. 

The discussion began with Judy providing a brief history of 3D printing for the blind. It was spearheaded by Benetech, which created the Diagram Center, a database of 3D designs for use by educational institutions. However, this project was abandoned because there were not many educational institutions that had 3D printers; additionally, the software used to make the models was difficult to use. Now that a decade has passed, more 3D printed objects with and without braille are becoming available; this will likely increase especially because there are now large databases of free designs available online. The idea was put forth that BANA could encourage individuals and organizations who create 3D printed objects specifically for people who are blind to add their designs for 3D printed models to resource databases and libraries.

Based on the review of the samples provided for this meeting, inconsistency was noted in the rendering of 3D printed braille dots. A study done by Northeastern University found that 85° and 90° are the best angles for creating high-quality braille dots. The board also discussed the difference in the quality of braille dots when using horizontal versus vertical printing. It was noted that vertical printing is difficult when working with thin materials.

There was consensus that a set of guidelines around 3D printing objects with and without braille is necessary. It was proposed that a committee or task force should be formed to begin thinking about the creation of these guidelines. The first step would be an exploration of the current situation as it relates to 3D printing. In addition to this, a high-level outline of best practices should be created, and such an outline would help define the scope of the guidelines. It was also suggested that the guidelines should discuss the accessibility of the process of creating 3D printed objects by people who are blind.

Judy Dixon was recommended to chair the 3D printing committee, and it was agreed that it would be beneficial to have outside individuals involved in some capacity. Judy recommended having a roundtable to gather many of the individuals involved in 3D printing to put forth ideas and to give their opinions on the current state of 3D printing. This session would then inform the goals of the task force going forward.

The concern was raised that BANA needs to ensure that these guidelines do not stray too far from the core mission of the organization. There were suggestions that BANA should keep the scope focused on braille or tactile objects within the context of braille. 

One way to accomplish this would be to focus first on the creation of 3D printed braille and then expand from there.

It was agreed that an Ad Hoc Committee on 3D Printing would be formed, which could work on creating the scope of the guidelines and then bring that to the board. The goals of the committee would be as follows:

  • Gather input from stakeholders about what will be most helpful and to learn about considerations that the board has neglected to include;
  • Create the best practices and guidelines document for the creation of 3D models for people who are blind.

MSC: Judy moved that BANA form an Ad Hoc Committee on 3D Printing; this committee shall be charged with creating an agenda for the round table, inviting knowledgeable stakeholders to discuss issues related to 3D printing for blind consumers, and bringing recommendations of next steps to the board. Amber seconded. Motion carried. 

MSC: Kyle moved to appoint Judy Dixon as chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on 3D Printing. Tracy seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Judy moved to charge the Ad Hoc Committee on 3D Printing to plan and execute a roundtable and to bring the recommendations of the round table to the board. 

FM seconded. Motion carried.

Discussion followed the motion before it was passed; members of the board agreed that they would like to see the agenda before the round table.  

Additional committee members were suggested with the determination that the committee may eventually decide to add outside members.

MSC: Mary Nelle moved to appoint Jen Goulden, Tina Seger, and Amber Pearcy to the Ad Hoc Committee on 3D Printing. Georgie seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Georgie moved to charge the Ad Hoc Committee on 3D Printing to plan and execute a roundtable to invite knowledgeable stakeholders to discuss issues related to 3D printing for blind consumers and to bring those recommendations of next steps to the board at the fall meeting. Tina seconded. Motion carried.   

26. Nemeth Technical Committee: Dawn Gross

Jennifer delivered the report as circulated.

Charge 366: This relates to the errata to the Graphing Calculator Guidelines. It is ongoing. 

Charge 494: This charge relates to correcting a few minor issues discovered as part of the review of the most recent errata to The Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation, 2022. The corrections have been made, and the errata document has been posted to the BANA website.

MSC: Jennifer moved to change the disposition of Charge 494 from TBA to Done. Wendy seconded. Motion carried.

Charge 494 (10/22/2025): Work with publications to correct the few technical issues raised in the errata review and prepare the newly approved errata for posting.] 

27. BANA's Appointments Committee: Tracy Gaines

Tracy did not have any committee activity to report. 

It was suggested that committee liaisons should reach out to committee chairs to remind them of the process of submitting appointments for the fall meeting.

For the benefit of the board, Sue provided a verbal summary of Appendix D, which addresses the appointments process in the BANA Bylaws. A summary of the process is as follows: 

The BANA chair generates the cover sheet to send to committees asking for the BANA Committee Status Composition Form. The due date of this form is the date on which the report is submitted. If this submission date does not provide    enough time to search for a new member, the appointment can be made at the December teleconference. (BANA Policies 5.2)

28. Music Braille Committee: Jenny Wheeler

Hollie delivered the report as circulated.

Jen and Judy were able to locate the original source files for the Music Braille Code 2015, and in response to a request for this material in uncontracted braille, Jenny Wheeler volunteered to transcribe an uncontracted version. This work is ongoing.

Charge 467: This charge relates to the monitoring of international initiatives regarding music braille and to keep the board informed. The committee is in ongoing communication with the ICEB Music Braille Committee.

Charge 495: This charge relates to a review of a request to add the single-word switch indicator to the Music Braille Code 2015. The committee appreciated the request but has declined to make this addition.

The question was raised about the reasoning behind the committee’s refusal of this request. After communication between Jenny and Hollie, the board received the following reasons for the committee’s decision: this addition could cause confusion with the ornament symbol; furthermore, it would not conserve space overall.

As the transcriber who made the request is affiliated with NBA, Diane will inform them of the committee’s decision.

MSC: Kyle moved to change the disposition of Charge 495 from TBA to Done. Wendy seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 495 (10/22/2025): Review the request submitted by a transcriber to add a single-word switch indicator to the music braille code.]

29. Task Force on Strategic Planning: Mary Nelle McLennan and Jen Goulden

Charge 497: This charge relates to the review of BANA’s two strategic imperatives and the request to provide recommendations to the board regarding the current relevance of those imperatives. The task force has met once to review the imperatives and agreed that a reevaluation of the imperatives was in order; however, this review has not yet occurred. The task force will meet before the next teleconference. 

30. Awards Committee: Judy Dixon

Charge 502: This charge relates to the change of the criteria for the Darleen Bogart Braille Excellence Award by adding the words "or guidelines" in two places. This change has been made.

MSC: Judy moved to change the disposition of charge 502 from TBA to Done. Amber seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 502 (10/22/2025): Change the language of the criteria for the Darleen Bogart Braille Excellence Award to add "or guidelines" in two places.]

Charge 504: This charge relates to the review and update of the award criteria and to the execution of the process of giving the award.  

There were no nominees last year, and 2026 is not a year which is designated to give an award.  Because no nominations were received last year, there was agreement that the committee may need to reevaluate the plan for 2027, even though it is not necessary to give this award every two years. 

The committee will try to solicit nominations in 2027 now that the criteria has been expanded somewhat. The committee could also bring a recommendation to the board regarding other ideas.

It was noted that the change to the criteria needs to be updated on the public-facing webpage.

31. Position Paper on Quality of Braille Output: FM D'Andrea and Jen Goulden

The BANA chair received an email from the parent of a student who was receiving braille material on swell paper. She wanted clarification of BANA's position in educational settings regarding adherence to the guidelines about size and spacing of braille.

The only guidelines that exist about swell paper are in the Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics, 2022. 

FM shared with the board that she responded to the parent. There were questions about any official action that BANA should take because we do not have an official document or statement on the use of specific types of paper. The suggestion was made that BANA could provide a list of suggested types of paper for certain types of documents. It was also suggested that excerpts of FM's response to this individual could be used as the foundation for a position statement.

Jen constituted a task force to create a statement about general materials produced on paper, and the members shall be Jennifer Dunnam, FM D'Andrea, and Callie Brusegaard.

MSC: FM moved to charge the task force to draft a statement about the production of materials produced on paper. Jennifer seconded. Motion carried.

32. Secretary's Report: Amber Pearcy

Amber reported that there have been no email votes since the March 16, 2026 meeting. 

33. Treasurer's Report: Marie Zaldivar

Marie delivered the report as circulated.

She began by mentioning that there were numerous security measures to navigate during the transition into her role as treasurer; however, the transition is now complete. She said that the transition document created by past treasurer Danette Johnson was helpful, and Jennifer reminded the board that this document is part of the BANA Policies. 

Due to all of the new security protocols, it was determined that this document should be updated.

MSC: Jennifer moved to charge the Bylaws Commitee to work with Marie to update the treasurer transition document. Wendy seconded. Motion carried.  

The BANA savings account was discussed, and it was decided that although there is a minimal amount of money in the account, the board will keep the account open for now. Marie reminded the board that the majority of the money which was previously in the savings account is now in the CD, which has been renewed for six months; the six-month term provided a better interest rate.

MSC: Jennifer moved to accept the treasurer's report as presented. FM seconded. Motion carried. 

34. Certificates of Appreciation: Amber Pearcy

It was noted that a certificate of appreciation should be created for Aquinas Pather.

Jen and Mary Nelle will continue to collaborate on the few remaining certificates, and once those are complete, Mary Nelle will ship all materials to Amber, who will take over the duty of issuing certificates. 

35. Directory Updates: Sue Reilly

Sue has been working on the directory update. She has created a version in Excel. She has also made modifications to the Microsoft Word document to improve screen reader navigation. It was decided to continue offering a directory in both versions. 

36. BANA's Listservs: Sue Reilly

Sue reported that there are almost 600 subscribers to the BANA Announce list. She is having some difficulty adding people to this list, but she is working to resolve this issue.

37. BANA's Archives: FM D'Andrea

FM delivered the report as circulated.

Charge 474: This relates to sending any missing hard copies of minutes to the archives. FM has a list of the minutes that are missing from the archive, and she is working with Judy to create electronic versions of minutes.

FM and Sue have begun scanning material from an old binder of BANA correspondence found by FM. Once the hard copies of the letters are digitized, she will send the binder to APH. She will also send the material from the fall 2025 meeting to the archive at APH. 

38. Press Releases: Wendy Buckley

Wendy will prepare a press release to provide updates from the spring 2026 meeting. It was decided that this release should include information about the formation of the new Ad Hoc Committee on 3D Printing, as well as a summary of our discussion about braille and AI. A separate press release will be prepared announcing BANA’s 50th anniversary celebration and the availability of t-shirts to commemorate the anniversary. Furthermore, when the Guidance for Transcribing Math and Science in UEB is posted on the BANA website, this will be announced in a press release.

39. Unfinished/Continued Business: BANA's 50th Anniversary Celebrations Continued

Jennifer delivered the report as circulated. 

The remaining plans to celebrate BANA’s 50th anniversary this year were revealed to the board. The BANA member organization spotlights will continue through October; the hashtag #BANA50th is used to tag these posts.

The task force is in the process of creating a timeline documenting events which culminated in the founding of BANA, as well as documenting BANA's history. A draft is attached to this report, and upon its completion, the timeline will be posted on the BANA website.

The 50th anniversary commemoration T-shirt is now for sale by Aloha Braille.

The board was reminded that $3000 was approved for the purchase of a 50th anniversary keepsake to be given to the BANA board and BANA committee members; this item is still under consideration. 

Rather than an in-person reception, the task force has proposed holding a virtual event on December 2, 2026, which is the date of BANA’s founding. The event could involve a presentation, and the task force is looking into the possibility of attendees being able to order similar food items to enjoy together virtually during the event. The assistance of the Outreach Committee may be requested to spread the word as more details are available regarding this celebration.

40. New Business:

No new business was brought forth.

41. Upcoming Zoom Meetings: Jen Goulden

The board agreed that the next Zoom meeting will be held on Monday June 22 at 1:00 P.M. Eastern Time. The following meeting will be held on August 17, 2026 at 1:00 P.M. Eastern Time. 

42. Fall 2026 Meeting: Hollie Knight

The fall meeting of the BANA board will be held in Atlanta, GA from November 4-6 with November 6 as the half day. Hollie reported that the Georgian Terrace Hotel is the potential hotel. Transportation will be provided from the hotel to CIDI. Walking is also an option.

43. Future Spring and Fall Meetings (need to adjust the list):

The list of future meetings needs to be adjusted now that Hadley is no longer a member.

Discussion was had about the possibility of holding the fall 2027 meeting at Perkins (to be hosted by ACB). The dates of November 8-10 or the 15-17 2027 were suggested as a possibility. The Foundation for Blind Children could potentially take the fall 2028 slot, or this could be filled by ACB if they do not take the fall 2027 slot. 

Tracy confirmed for the board that the spring 2027 meeting, hosted by CTEBVI, will be held in Burlingame, CA from April 19-21 with the half day on the 21st. This will be directly following the annual conference of CTEBVI.

Note: The following list of future meetings will not be changed at this time as no final decision was reached during this discussion.

  • Fall 2026: CIDI
  • Spring 2027: CTEBVI
  • Fall 2027: Hadley
  • Spring 2028: ATPC
  • Fall 2028: ACB
  • Spring 2029: CNIB
  • Fall 2029: Clovernook
  • Spring 2030: NFB
  • Fall 2030: NLS
  • Spring 2031: Perkins
  • Fall 2031: NBA
  • Spring 2032: APH

44. Around the Table: Organization Updates (time permitting)

Member organizations shared updates of interest to the BANA board.

45. Adjournment: Jen Goulden

Jen adjourned the meeting at 11:23 A.M. Eastern Time.

Respectfully submitted,

Amber Pearcy

June 17, 2026