September 2023

Braille Authority of North America Board Meeting 

Monday, September 18, 2023, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time

 

1. Call to Order: Jen Goulden

Jen called the meeting to order at 1:04 P.M. Eastern time.

 

2. Roll Call: Amber Pearcy

The following board members were in attendance: 

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

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

  • Amber Pearcy, National Braille Press (NBP), Secretary 

  • Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Treasurer

  • Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Immediate Past Chair 

  • Marie Zaldivar, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC)

  • 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)

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

  • Guy Toles, 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) 

  • Wendy Buckley, Perkins School for the Blind

  • Susan (Sue) Reilly, Administrative Assistant

  • Aquinas Pather, associate member Allyant

  • Holly Bullock, associate member Crawford Technologies

 

Observers: 

  • Hollie Knight, Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation

 

3. Approval of Minutes from the June 2023 meeting: Amber Pearcy

MSC: Amber moved to approve the June 27 meeting minutes. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

 

An email vote was taken in July regarding the use of Unit 6 from the 2022 Tactile Graphics guidelines at a workshop at the NBA conference in October. This is a repeat of the workshop given at the 2022 conference, for which we also granted permission to use this material.

MSC:   Danette moved to allow Betty Marshall to use the material from Unit 6 of the TG Guidelines in a workshop that will be given at the fall NBA conference in Tennessee. Wendy seconded. 

Jen called for votes to be submitted on this motion by July 25. 

 

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

  • Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair: yes 

  • Amber Pearcy, National Braille Press (NBP), Secretary: yes

  • Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Immediate Past Chair: yes

  • Marie Zaldivar, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC): yes

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

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

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

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

  • Guy Toles, Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI): yes 

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

  • Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA) : yes

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

 

4. Nemeth Code Update: Mary Nelle McLennan/Holly Bullock

Mary Nelle reported that the Publications committee has the final files. Holly reached out to Mary Nelle about the possibility of looking for some additional remediation options outside of BANA. Holly then reported that after reviewing a sample of the document, Crawford Technologies has agreed to do the remediation pro bono for BANA. The files will be delivered by the end of October or early November. This process will be expedited because there will not be a copy edit of these files by the Publications committee. 

 

5. Tactile Graphics: Mary Nelle McLennan 

Mary Nelle reported that Publications has turned the copy edited files over to the remediation expert. The expert created a preliminary file for comparison by the Tactile Graphics committee. The committee found some issues with these files, and the requested edits have been sent back to the remediation expert. 

 

We discussed a recommendation from Publications of posting the most recent copy edited PDF files with the changes requested by the Tactile Graphics Committee incorporated.  Each unit could be posted separately with an announcement that the accessible PDF will be available soon. However, when the board learned that the time frame for the completion of the BRF files is unknown at this time, we agreed that we should not post only inaccessible PDFs. 

 

Diane reported that the BRF has not been prepared yet, and it is unclear when the BRF will be ready for posting. Allison O’Day at Minnesota State Services for the Blind has informed Diane that her organization will not be able to begin this transcription until the beginning of 2024. 

 

Jen would like recommendations by September 25 of transcribers who can work on the BRF. These names should be sent to Mary Nelle and Jen. BANA is also willing to pay for this transcription. The files to be transcribed will only consist of text, and the only additions made to graphics may be page numbers. These files could be handed off for transcription by the end of September. 

 

MN recognized the diligence of the Tactile Graphics and Nemeth committees who have continued to meet weekly.

 

6. Chemistry Update: Frances Mary D’Andrea 

FM reported that Section 10 has been revised as needed. The files have been turned over to the review committee, and the next step is the board review. The committee members have hard copies of Section 10 that they are prepared to share with the board. 

 

Jennifer reported that the instructions from the review committee will be sent to the board today. The board will review the hard copy of Section 10 at the meeting in October. 

 

7. Bylaws: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer discussed the committee’s recommendations about BANA membership. The committee recommends that the number of full organizational members should not exceed 18, and any category of membership should not exceed 50 percent. There was some discomfort with the cap on 18 organizational members. This number seemed appropriate because when the committee began working on this issue, there were 18 members on the board. Some believe that the cap could be lower than 18. 

The suggestion was made that the membership percentage could be helpful as a way to even the distribution between member categories, possibly mor helpful than the member cap. 

 

The next recommendation stated that the number of associate members should not exceed 25 percent of the number of full organizational members. This was generally accepted. The full report of the Bylaws Committee will be given at the fall meeting.

 

8. Tactile Graphics Training Request: Diane spence

Diane was contacted by Cindy Olmstead, the president and CEO of Michigan Braille Transcribing Fund (MBTF), which consists of the prison braille groups for both men and women in Michigan. MBTF wants to develop an in-house training course to be used in the prison braille programs based on the new Tactile Graphics Guidelines. She asked if BANA would have any objections to this plan, and she would like to know if she could receive early access to the files for course development. The idea is that if they could begin developing the course now, they would be ready to begin offering it as soon as the guidelines are published. 

 

It was pointed out that many people would probably like to have early access to these materials, but that does not mean that we can grant it. We have been strict about the materials we permit for use in presentations. Diane assured the board that the materials would only be used in the Michigan prison network, and these materials would not be available to the general public. There is concern that if we allowed one group to have this access, we would have to allow other prison programs, university programs, etc. to have access. Diane argued that this is similar to the early use of the Nemeth Code that is being used to create the updated NLS certification course. Jennifer stated that the creators of the updated course have been very careful to state that the information is not the actual code and that the material is only used for purposes of creating the course. 

 

Consensus was that allowing early access to this group deviates from our general policy concerning our publications in progress. Jen reminded the board that we are hoping to have the files ready soon, which will minimize the wait for MBTF.

 

9. EBRF Working Group Update: Jen Goulden

Jen reported that the group is making progress. There will be a broader discussion at the fall meeting.

 

10. Knit and Crochet Guidelines: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer apologized that the review did not commence earlier in the summer. She proposed performing the review of this document concurrently with the review of the Chemistry Guidelines. The document is only about six pages. The goal would be to vote on both documents at the fall meeting. The board agreed to this plan. 

 

11. Fall Meeting: Wendy Buckley

Wendy requested several pieces of information from us regarding diet, accommodations, and transportation logistics.

 

12. Spring 2024: Kyle DeJute

Kyle reported that from the information she has so far, March 25-27 seem to be the most likely dates for the spring meeting.

 

13. Awards Committee: Frances Mary D’Andrea 

FM reported that the Awards Committee will have a meeting within the next week to discuss whether there will be a recipient of the Darlene Bogart Award.

 

14. Adjournment: Jen Goulden

Jen adjourned the meeting at 2:25 P.M. Eastern time. 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Amber Pearcy

October 5, 2023