The Unified English Braille Code is a revised code which was developed to unify all the different technical and literary braille codes in use in the UK into one. It also seeks to create a single braille code for all the English speaking people around the world.
History of UEB
In 1992 the Braille Association of North America (BANA) began to look at the possibility of having a single braille code which could be applied across all subject areas. In 1993, other English speaking countries became interested in the project and the International Council on English Braille (ICEB) was formed.
In 2004 the ICEB members agreed that the code was sufficiently complete to be considered by the national braille authorities for adoption in the member countries. Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria and South Africa adopted in 2004 - 2005 and Canada adopted in 2010. The US have yet to adopt.
The pros and cons of UEB
Those people who support UEB feel that there have been a number of critical external factors which have affected the world of braille over the last 40 years, primarily computers, globalisation and the teaching of children in mainstream schools.
Unifying the subject codes should make braille easier to teach and learn. Sharing a code with other English Speaking Countries should increase the market size and reduce the cost of supporting the code (both in terms of software and code maintenance). Removing ambiguity in code meaning should improve the accuracy of computers producing braille and improve the reliability of braille to text translation (particularly useful in the mainstream classroom).
Those people who are opposed to the implementation of UEB are concerned about the increase in length of transcription, which although small for literary braille is substantially longer for technical codes. Capitalisation is an essential element of UEB and many users find the inclusion of capitals an unnecessary intrusion. There will also be an extensive back catalogue of material in SEB and other codes for many years, so those needing to access such material will need to know the previous codes.
UKAAF has produced a list of Frequently Asked Questions on UEB to help clarify some of the main issues.
The effects of UEB on the UK code
The main changes to the literary code are:
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The removal of sequencing. This means that 'and, for, of, the, with and a' now have to be spaced from one another and 'to, into and by' have to be spaced from the word following.
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Nine contractions have been removed, such as -ble, -com, -ation.
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Revision of some punctuation signs (brackets and quotes).
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New symbols for type form indicators eg. Bold and underlining.
UKAAF has produced a more extensive list including reference to the technical codes.
UEB in the UK
In the UK, the Braille Authority of the UK (BAUK), carried out a consultation with braille readers in 2008. A consultation pack was sent to over 4,000 braille users, 470 responses were received. 76% of those who responded did not want to see UEB adopted as the standard code in the UK. In January 2009 BAUK merged with two other organisations to form the UK Association for Accessible Formats (UKAAF). At the beginning of 2011, UKAAF began a programme of research and evaluation building on the information received via the BAUK consultation. Some of the work included:
The results of all the work were laid before the UKAAF board at the end of October 2011 when the members voted by a majority to adopt the code for use in the UK. The organisation sees 2012 as a planning year when the issues and resources needed for implementation are more fully explored.
UEB and RNIB
The RNIB Board discussed and approved a revised braille policy in November 2011. Recognising the decision of UKAAF, RNIB undertook to implement UEB throughout its organisation. It also undertook to use 2012 as a planning year.