Unified English Braille (UEB)
Unified English Braille is a new braille code designed by the International Council on English Braille to provide a single code that can be used for literary and technical materials throughout the English-speaking world.
On 2 April 2004 the Third ICEB General Assembly gave the green light for Unified English Braille, resolving that the code was sufficiently complete for recognition as an international standard for English-language Braille that may now be considered by member countries for possible adoption as their national braille code.
UEB has been adopted by these countries:
- Australia, UEB adoption May 2005 (doc 20 kb)
- Canada, UEB adoption April 2010
- New Zealand, UEB adoption November 2005
- Nigeria, UEB adoption February 2005 (doc 24 kb)
- South Africa, UEB adoption May 2004 (doc 19 kb)
The Braille Authority of the United Kingdom (BAUK) will consider the adoption of UEB in 2013.
The Braille Authority of North America (BANA) has BANA has not formally considered the adoption of UEB in the US but it is monitoring the results of the introduction of UEB in other countries.
Reasons for Australia's adoption of UEB
Background information regarding Australia's decision to adopt UEB background is given in Bill Jolley's February 2004 paper, Braille Codes in Australia (doc 25 kb), which is an update of his April 2003 paper Braille Codes at the Cross Roads.
An article published in the Journal of Vision Impairment and Blindness by the ABA's Bill Jolley describes Australia's implementation of UEB (doc 32 kb) as of September 2005.
The Rules of Unified English Braille
The Rules of Unified English Braille (commonly known as the UEB Rulebook) was published by the Round Table, in collaboration with the International Council on English Braille, in June 2010. It is the key reference text containing all of the rules of Unified English Braille with examples and further references. Print and braille versions of the Rulebook may be downloaded from the ICEB website.
The next edition of the Rulebook will include a new appendix listing all UEB symbols and three additional sections covering Code Switching; Scansion, Stress and Tone; and Line Mode. It will be released by December 2010.
Braille Primer 2008 Edition
The Unified English Braille Primer: Australian Edition is a series of lessons and exercises by which braille practitioners can learn UEB.
- Unified English Braille Primer: Australian Edition (doc 650 kb)
- Unified English Braille Primer: Australian Edition (pdf 470 kb)
Please note that the braille files are formatted for 42 characters per line and 25 lines per page.
- Braille primer vol 1 (brf 97 kb) - Unified English Braille (Australian Edition) pp7-102
- Braille primer vol 2 (brf 95 kb) - Unified English Braille (Australian Edition) pp103-182
- Braille primer exercises (brf 48 kb) - Unified English Braille (Australian Edition) exercises and supplementary exercises
Further UEB resources
The Australian Braille Authority recommends the following tools to assist in the learning, teaching and transcribing Unified English Braille:
- UEB in a nutshell (pdf 41 kb) gives a simple explanation of why UEB has been adopted in Australia and how it differs from our previous braille code
- UEB symbols list gives the most commonly used new symbols in UEB, sorted according to subject area. It is also available in braille.
- UEB Duxbury instructions (doc 71 kb) gives practical advice on how to transcribe UEB using Duxbury 10.6 and 10.7, and is accompanied by the Duxbury UEB 107 template (dxb 3 kb)
International Council on English Braille
Australia is a member of the International Council on English Braille (ICEB). The purpose of ICEB is to coordinate and improve Braille standards for the benefit of all English-speaking users of Braille.
The members of ICEB are the various countries where English-language Braille is widely used. ICEB has seven members: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States of America.
The Fourth ICEB General Assembly was held in Melbourne, Australia, in the April 2008. Australia's delegation, appointed by the Australian Braille Authority, consisted of Bruce Maguire, Josie Howse, Bill Jolley and Christine Simpson. A number of Australian observers also attended. The resolutions from the 4th General Assembly (doc 38 kb) are now available.
The Third ICEB General Assembly was held in Toronto from 28 March to 2 April 2004. The General Assembly adopted resolutions concerning Unified English Braille and other matters.