In October 2011, the UK Association for Accessible Formats (UKAAF), who set standards and best practice for the industry, recognised Unified English Braille (UEB) as an official braille code for the UK. UEB is a code already being shared across English-speaking countries around the world.
As an organisation with braille firmly in our heritage and our future, RNIB was one of many organisations supporting UKAAF's decision. To remain relevant, braille needs to evolve. We believe that UEB will help keep braille alive for generations to come.
UEB has been developed to make the learning of braille, the learning through braille and the creation of braille easier. Currently the braille code used for reading books and magazines (known as literary braille) is quite different from the codes used for mathematics, science or computing (often referred to as the technical codes). UEB is a single code that covers all subject matter.
If you read books and magazines in Standard English Braille (SEB) you shouldn't notice much difference. Our research showed that nearly 90 per cent of people could read it without any difficulty or could read it but more slowly than usual.
Standard English Braille (SEB) isn't going to disappear overnight. The introduction of UEB is likely to happen over a few years. We'll be taking time to get this right, with 2012 being our planning year.
Find out more
To give UEB a go for yourself, order a free compilation of braille essays in UEB by emailing braille@rnib.org.uk or contact our Helpline team on 0303 123 9999.
To find out more about the introduction of UEB, including answers to some frequently asked questions, visit UKAAF's website.