[nabop] BANA Press Release

[David Andrews]

January 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kim Charlson
PHONE: 1-617-972-7249
E-MAIL:
Kim.Charlson at Perkins.org
BANA Meets in Cincinnati, Elects Officers, and Conducts Open Forum
The Braille Authority of North America (BANA) held its fall 2004 meeting in Cincinnati from November 4-7. It was hosted by the Clovernook Center for the
Blind and Visually Impaired and held at Clovernook and the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza.
Elections were held. The results are as follows:
Kim Charlson, Chairperson *
Warren Figueiredo, Vice-Chairperson *
Carol Morrison, Secretary
Sue Reilly, Treasurer *
* re-elected for another one-year term
Chairperson: Kim Charlson (Watertown, MA) represents the American Council of the Blind and is employed as the Director of the Braille & Talking Book Library
at the Perkins School for the Blind.
Vice-Chairperson: Warren Figueiredo, (Baton Rouge, LA) represents the American Printing House for the Blind and has recently retired as the Director of
the Louisiana Instructional Materials Center.
Secretary: Carol Morrison (Los Angeles, CA) serves as the representative for the Braille Institute of America, where she was Assistant Director of the Braille
Press until her recent retirement after 26 years of employment there. She is the Immediate Past President of CTEVH, and the current President of the San
Fernando Valley Braille Transcribers. Carol is liaison to BANA's Tactile Graphics Technical Committee.
Treasurer: Sue Reilly (Chula Vista, CA) represents the California Transcribers and Educators of the Visually Handicapped and is employed as the Operations
Specialist, Special Education Programs Division, San Diego City Schools.
Three new members have recently joined the BANA board.
Judy Dixon (Arlington, VA) represents the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress where she is Consumer
Relations Officer. She is a life-long braille reader, a certified braille proofreader, and a strong advocate for braille. She has coordinated numerous
braille-related activities at NLS including editing a compendium of articles by braille notables called Braille into the Next Millennium; managing Web-Braille,
NLS's braille book and magazine Internet service; and conducting a braille reader survey. Judy will serve as Bylaws Committee Chairperson and is liaison
to the Refreshable Braille Committee.
Jennifer Dunnam (Minneapolis, MN) represents the National Federation of the Blind. She is the author of The Slate Book, serves on the board of the National
Association to Promote the Use of Braille and is employed as Document Conversion and Access Assistance Coordinator in the Disability Services of the University
of Minnesota. Jennifer will serve as liaison to the Music Committee.
Diane Wormsley (Drexel Hill, PA) represents the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired. She is currently employed
as an Associate Professor and Program Director of the Professional Preparation Program in Education of Children with Visual and Multiple Disabilities at
the Pennsylvania College of Optometry in Elkins Park, PA. Her recent book, Braille Literacy: A Functional Approach, is published by AFB Press. She is a
member of BANA's Research and Outreach Committees.
Two BANA technical committees will each have a new chairperson. Caryn Navy will work with the Refreshable Braille Committee. Betsy Burnham will assume a
leadership role with the Early Literacy Materials Production Committee.
Caryn Navy says: "I became totally blind at age 11, and I have been a braille reader since the sixth grade. I received a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics
from M.I.T. and a Master's degree and Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I got hooked on refreshable braille when I purchased
a VersaBraille in 1980. It was an indispensable tool in writing my Ph.D. dissertation, as I could edit my work in Nemeth Code without having to throw away
page after page from my Perkins Brailler. I continued to make heavy use of my VersaBraille as an assistant professor of Mathematics at Bucknell University
from 1981 to 1984. In 1984 I joined the staff of Raised Dot Computing, the software company which my husband, David Holladay, had founded. At Raised Dot
Computing, and since 1999 at Duxbury Systems, I have enjoyed delving into the details of a variety of braille codes. In the early 1990s, making sure that
our MegaDots software could create material in Linear Braille Format was an important factor in setting up the MegaDots document structure, which reflects
many of the elements of Linear Braille Format, such as 6 levels of heading. My old VersaBraille is in the attic now But I continue to use refreshable braille
both at work and in my personal life. I look forward to helping to advance the work of the Refreshable Braille Technical Committee."
Betsy Burnham will assume the chair of the Early Literacy Materials Production Committee. Betsy is currently working as an Editor and Trainer for the Accessible
Textbook Initiative and Collaboration Project (ATIC) of the American Printing House for the Blind. Her other volunteer work currently consists of serving
as a board member of the MD/DC Chapter of AER, a member of the AFB Solutions Forum, and continuing to give workshops for the National Braille Association.
Betsy has been involved in the writing and presentation of the AFB Solutions Forum Training entitled "Working with Publisher's Files for the Transcription
of Textbooks" and in the concept and writing of The NBA Braille Formats Course. She has also served as a committee member for the writing of the curriculum
for the North West Vista College Course for Transcribers of Educational Material.
Betsy's interest in braille began as a teenager while her father was the superintendent of the New York State School for the Blind. As her family lived
on the campus of the school, Betsy had many friends who attended the school. She learned braille so that she might write notes to her friends.
When Betsy's children began to attend school for a full day, she decided to go back to the "world of braille." She began working at the Maryland School
for the Blind as a paraprofessional, working with the students attending the public schools for some of their coursework. She left MSB after 15 years to
work for APH. During her tenure at MSB she became certified in braille, became the only braillist at the school and finally she helped to develop and later
supervised the braille production department of the IRC.
BANA held an Open Forum on Thursday, November 4, 2004, to gather feedback from braille readers, proofreaders, transcribers, and educators on specific braille
symbols and formatting concerns in an effort to be more responsive to ever-changing and complex braille transcription and readability issues. Topics discussed
included:
1. print page numbers shown in literary text
2. special symbols pages for books including Computer Braille Code.
3. the slash
4. uncontracted and contracted braille with foreign words and phrases within English context
5. braille equivalents for the copyright, registered, and trademark symbols
6. emphasis in early education materials
For minutes of the open forum visit
www.brailleauthority.org
or request print or braille copies from Kim Charlson.
The Braille Authority of North America
January 2005
Members
Kim Charlson * (American Council of the Blind)
Mary Archer (National Braille Association)
Darleen Bogart (The Canadian National Institute for the Blind)
Eileen Curran (National Braille Press)
Frances Mary D'Andrea (American Foundation for the Blind)
May Davis (Associated Services for the Blind)
Judy Dixon (National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress)
Jennifer Dunnam (National Federation of the Blind)
Warren Figueiredo (American Printing House for the Blind)
David Grimes (Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired)
Carol Morrison (Braille Institute of America)
Sue Reilly (California Transcribers and Educators of the Blind and Visually Handicapped)
Diane Wormsley (Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired)
Associate Member
Maria Stevens (Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind)
Administrative Assistant
Mary Czepyha
Technical Committees
Literary Braille
Martha Pamperin *
Nancy Barker
Anna Lee Braunstein
Joseph Sullivan
John Wilkinson
Julia Moyer
Tom Keith
Norma Schecter
Braille Formats
Lynette Taylor *
Deborah Brown
Susan Christensen
Debbie Gillespie
Ann Kelt
Sandy Smith
Dena Garrett
Jean Simpson
Computer Braille
Betty Teachman *
Melissa Hirshson
John Jackson
Sandra Ruconich
Joseph Sullivan
Foreign Language
Ann Kelt *
Olivia Chavez
Jill Cooter
Theresa McCabe
Mathematics
Betsy McBride *
Anthony Evancic
Helen McMillan
Susan Osterhaus
Jean Simpson
Allison O'Day
Music
Lawrence Smith *
Karin Auckenthaler
Beverly McKenney
Harvey Miller
Tom Ridgeway
Karen Gearreald
Refreshable Braille
Caryn Navy *
Herb Essenburg
Eric Guillory
Mary Beth Metzger
Sharon Monthei
Tactile Graphics
Lucia Hasty *
Constance Craig
John McConnell
Allison O'Day
Diane Spence
Susan Osterhaus
Early Literacy Materials Production
Betsy Burnham *
Susan Christensen
Jeri Cleveland
Marcia Dresser
Ann Kelt
Ann MacCuspie
Edie Mourre
Mila Truan
Lyn Vuocolo