Resources for the Blind and Visually Impaired
The American Foundation for the Blind
http://www.afb.org/
The American Foundation for the Blind, the organization to which Helen Keller devoted
her life, is a national nonprofit whose mission is to ensure that the ten
million Americans who are blind or visually impaired enjoy the same rights and
opportunities as other citizens. The American Foundation for the Blind promotes
wide-ranging, systemic change by addressing the most critical issues facing the
growing blind and visually impaired population: employment, independent living,
literacy, and technology. In addition to its New York City headquarters, the
American Foundation for the Blind maintains four National Centers in cities
across the United States, and a Governmental Relations office in Washington,
DC.
Bookshare
http://www.bookshare.org/
Bookshare’s goal is to make the world of print accessible to people with
disabilities. With a dynamic leadership team, dedicated Members and capable
partners, Bookshare™ is making this goal a reality.
Online Print-to-Braille Dictionary
http://www.brl.org/refdesk/conlookup.html
If you want to know how a word is written in contracted (English Grade
2) braille, check this accurate and easy-to-use online Braille Contraction
Lookup Dictionary.
Braille Music for Guitar
http://www.ctdcreations.com/braille/braille-intro.html
Resources for transcribers, educators, and blind guitarists who read braille
music or who would like to learn braille music! Includes a regularly updated
blog about the braille music code and guitar music.
Byzantine Music Braille Notation
http://www.stanthonysmonastery.org/music/BrailleByzantineMusic.html
Didymus
the Blind was revered by his contemporaries as the foremost Christian
scholar of the fourth century and as an influential spiritual leader. He
devised a system of tactile writing 1500 years before the invention of braille
and had great knowledge of many subjects, including music. Although the Second
and Third Ecumenical Synods condemned Origenist aspects of his speculative
theology, they never condemned Didymus himself. St. Nikolai Velimirovich
includes him as a saint in the Prologue on October 18th. This is an
online resource devoted to early Byzantine music notation and methods for its
braille transcription. There are a lot of great resources and links on this
site, including links to braille-ready Bibles, an Orthodox braille library, and
many instructional aids for transcribers.
Certified Music Transcribers currently accepting assignments.
http://www.nationalbraille.org/transcribers/Music/music.html
CTD Creations
http://www.ctdcreations.com/
Christina T. Davidson: Certified Braille Music Transcriber & Professional
Print Music Copyist. Introduction to Braille Music, free transcriptions of
Guitar music in braille and print:
audio files, PDF, and BRF files. Including contemporary pieces by Marc
Lamberg, Dag Arve Lindsetmo, and
Jubing Kristianto and classical pieces by Giuliani, Carulli, Bach, etc., Happy
Fingers: Easy Songs for braille music readers. Books 1 & 2 available for FREE.
Resources & Links: books, libraries, and websites about braille music.
Dancing Dots
http://www.dancingdots.com
Any sighted musician can scan and edit print notation and convert it to the
equivalent braille notation with our GOODFEEL Braille Music Translator. These sighted
copyists need not necessarily know braille. Blind musicians can independently
create sound recordings and printed scores with CakeTalking for SONAR and
Sibelius Speaking for Sibelius. We can train you to use any of our technology,
more mainstream applications or to learn to read braille music. We offer a
variety of products including braille music courses, and assistive technology
such as JAWS and Duxbury Braille Translator. Dancing Dots can consult with you
and supply your needs. We represent the leading manufacturers of assistive
technology and music supplies.
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) in Braille
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~reng/BrlIPA.html
IPA Braille was published by CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the
Blind) under the auspices of the International Council on English Braille in
April, 2008. BANA (the Braille Authority of North America) adopted IPA Braille
as the authorized BANA code for phonetics in February 2010. The publication is
available for free download at http://www.iceb.org/icebipa.htm.
If you do not have a braille embosser and equipment to print the tactile
images, you may also order a hardcopy from the Braille Institute of America
(ordering information given at the above site).
MACH
http://www.musicandartscenter.org
At the Music and Arts Center for Humanity, we believe in the power of art to
shape and change our world. Creativity is a method of sharing and communicating
and the universal language of the arts allows us to articulate both common and
diverse human experiences. It is through the arts that we learn tolerance and
understanding and begin to take an active role in our community. In an
atmosphere of spontaneity and creativity, MACH offers instruction visual art,
music, dance, theater and creative communication, and various computer
technologies. Students learn to create with their hands, move with their bodies,
sing with their voices, and listen with their ears and in the process, learn to
imagine with their minds and express themselves with their hearts.
MENC
http://menc.org/
MENC, among the world's largest arts education organizations, marked its
centennial in 2007 as the only association that addresses all aspects of music
education. Through membership of more than 75,000 active, retired, and
pre-service music teachers, and with 60,000 honor students and supporters, MENC
serves millions of students nationwide through activities at all teaching
levels, from preschool to graduate school.
MENVI
http://www.menvi.org
Music Education Network For The Visually Impaired (MENVI) is an information
network composed of musicians, specialists, students, parents, and music
educators of visually impaired students. The MENVI Advisory Committee is made
up entirely of blind musicians and teachers. MENVI exists for, and is guided by
blind musicians.
The National Braille Association
http://www.nationalbraille.org/
Equal Access to Print through Excellence in Braille.
The National Federation of the Blind
http://www.nfb.org/
Founded in 1940, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the nation's
largest and most influential membership organization of blind persons. With
fifty thousand members, the NFB has affiliates in all fifty states plus
Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, and over seven hundred local chapters. As a
consumer and advocacy organization, the NFB is considered the leading force in
the blindness field today.
The National Resource Center for Blind Musicians
http://www.blindmusicstudent.org/
A division of the Music and Arts Center for Humanity in Bridgeport,
Connecticut. The resource center provides information and referral services for
visually impaired students of all ages, their parents and teachers; learning
opportunities for blind students headed to college; and maintains a network of
visually impaired musicians willing to share their expertise in braille music,
technology and coping strategies. The Resource Center is best known for its
Summer Institute for Blind College-bound Musicians, a residential program which
brings together students from several states and countries, who are studying
music at the college level. Other activities of the resource Center include
development of programs for blind children in Connecticut and teacher training.
Paper Music
http://www.papermusic.org/
Music transcription and consultation service for the blind and
visually-impaired. (You are currently at this website.)
Scouting Resources for Boy Scouts with Disabilities
http://www.wwswd.org/scouting-resources.htm
Many resources for Boy Scouts and Scout Masters. Includes resources for audio
recordings, enlarged print, and braille editions of the scouting manuals, training
guides for Scout Masters, and also includes resources regarding autistic Boy
Scouts.
Sign Language Alphabets from Around the World
http://www.deafblind.com/worldsig.html
“I must inform all my Deafblind, Blind and Visually Impaired friends that this
section will contain graphics. I must apologize for this but why I am writing
this little note is because some of the pages linking to this section of A-Z to
Deafblindness will contain graphic images of the Sign Languages from all over
the world. Like yourselves I cannot see these graphics and they are pretty
useless to me, but perhaps to a sighted hearing person they may learn some
signs that may perhaps one day be useful to them if they meet a deaf person. I
know that this can be very annoying for us if we visit pages and there is no
description. I dislike this very much myself. But perhaps one day someone,
perhaps a deaf person, will give me a full text description of the graphics
contained here and of the Sign Language Alphabets from all over this little
world of ours.”
Vision Aware
http://www.visionaware.org/
A self-help resource center for vision loss. Associates for
World Action in Rehabilitation and Education (AWARE) is a registered 501
(c)(3) nonprofit public charity, founded in 1990. Our mission is to provide
information, resources, and education that can increase independence and enhance
quality of life for individuals with vision loss. AWARE is committed to
increasing the visibility of organizations and resources that address the unmet
needs of people who are blind or have low vision.
VisionConnection
http://www.visionconnection.org/VisionConnection/default.htm
A friendly, accessible, interactive global Internet portal for people who are
partially sighted or blind, the professionals who work with them, the families
and friends who support them -- and anyone looking for the latest information
on vision impairment, its prevention and vision.
We Connect Now
http://weconnectnow.wordpress.com/
We Connect is dedicated to uniting college students with disabilities in access
to higher education and employment issues.
This list includes sources for both lending and
purchasing Braille music. Some libraries produce and sell material and also
hold a collection for loan. For inter-library loans from foreign libraries,
please contact your own national library who will organise this for you. This
list was compiled by Inge Formenti, Resource Services, American Printing House
for the Blind: 800-223-1839.
South
African Braille Music Library
P.O. Box
933, Worcester, 6849 South Africa
Phone:
Tel: +27 23 3422313 Fax: +27 23 3423959
Web site: www.blind-institute.org.za/print.htm
E-mail:
iftb@mWeb.co.za
Based at the Pioneer Printers, who provide Braille, large
print and audio to visually disabled people in South Africa and neighbouring
countries, items can be borrowed on inter-library loan via your national
library.
National
Information and Library Service, Australia
557 St
Kilda Road, Melbourne 3004
Phone: +61
(03) 9522 5222, Fax +61 (03) 9529
3589 Web site: www.rvib.org.au
E-mail:
rvib@rvib.org.au
A joint venture between the Royal Victorian Institute for
the Blind (RVIB) and Royal Blind Society of New South Wales (RBS), NILS has a
significant collection of Braille music.
Biblioteca
italiana per I ciechi
Via G.
Ferrari 5/A - 20052 Monza (MI)
Phone: +39
039 83.32.53/54 Fax +39
039.83.32.64
Web site: www.bibciechi.it/spartiti.htm
E-mail:
bic@bibciechi.it
This is the division for the blind and visually impaired at
the National Library in Italy.
Their catalogue (in Italian) can be downloaded and contains braille
music scores.
Braille
Press Zurich
Albisriederstrasse
399/400, CH-8047 Zurich, Switzerland.
Phone: +41
1-491-25-55
Web site: www.sbszh.ch (German)
E-mail:
braillepress@sbszh.ch
Contact:
Lia Cariboni, Music Department
Large producer of Braille music. Their catalogue (in German)
is available on the Web site.
Centre du
Transcription Musicale Braille Indépendent 103, rue du Cd Gâté, 44600
Saint-Nazaire, France.
Phone: +33
02 40 53 54 31
French Braille music producer.
Danish
National Library for the Blind
Teglvaerksgade
37, DK-2100 Copenhagen OE, Denmark.
Phone: +
45 39 27 44 44.
Web site: www.dbb.dk
E-mail:
dbb@dbb.dk
The Braille Music Library at DBB is one of the world's
leading producers of Braille notes with a current collection of 6,000 titles.
DBB also offers a transcription service.
FNB
Molenpad
2, 1016 GM Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Phone: +31
0486 486 486; Fax: +31 6208459
Web site: www.fnb.nl (in Dutch)
FNB is the new umbrella organisation for the libraries for
the blind in the Netherlands. The organisation is responsible for delivering
information (text, music, drawings etc.) for print-impaired people.
International projects are one of the core activities of the FNB and they
participate in and co-ordinate innovative projects about accessibility to
information for print-impaired people.
National
Library for the Blind
Far
Cromwell Road, Bredbury, Stockport, SK6 2SG, UK.
Phone: +44
(0)161 3552045; Fax +44 (0)161 3552098
Web site: www.nlb-online.org
Contact:
Melanie Baker, Music Librarian
E-mail:
melanie.baker@nlbuk.org
NLB's music library contains around 13,500 titles in
Braille, covering a variety of instruments and ranging from classical to
popular music. The full catalogue can be browsed via the Web site.
Organizacion
Nacional de Ciegos Epanoles (ONCE) Jose Ortega y Gasset 18, 28006 Madrid,
Spain.
Phone:
+34-91-614-5213
Web site: www.once.es (Spanish)
E-mail:
soi@once.es
Large Spanish producer of Braille.
Royal
National Institute of the Blind
RNIB
Customer Services, PO Box 173, Peterborough, PE2 6WS, UK.
Phone:
0845 702 3153 (UK only)
Web site: www.rnib.org.uk
E-mail: UK
customers - cservices@rnib.org.uk
Overseas
customers - exports@rnib.org.uk
RNIB have a large amount of Braille music for sale, some of
which can also be loaned.
Stamperia
Braille
Regione
Toscana, Via Aurelio Nicolodi 2, I-50131 Firenze, Italy.
Phone:
+39-55-571844
Web site: www.libroparlato.org/stamperia.htm
(Italian)
E-mail:
s.braille@libroparlato.org
Verein zur
Förderung der Blindenbildung
Bleekstrasse
26, 30559 Hannover, Germany.
Phone. +49
(05 11) 9 54 65 - 0
Web site: www.vzfb.de
E-mail:
vzfb@vzfb.de
Large German Braille producer with a range of Braille music
for sale.
American
Printing House for the Blind (Louis database)
Phone:
1-800-223-1839
Web site: www.aph.org/louis.htm
E-mail:
resource@aph.org
The Louis database contains more than 152,000 titles of
accessible material, including music, from over 200 agencies throughout the
United States. Items produced by APH are available for sale.
Braille
Jymico Inc.
110 51e
rue Est, Charlesbourg, Québec, Canada G1H 2J9
Phone:
+1(418) 624-2105, 1-877-272-4553
Fax: +1(418) 624-0994
Web site: www.braillejymico.com (English and French)
E-mail:
info@braillejymico.com
Braille Jymico Inc. produces braille music, braille in the
nemeth code, tactiles and literary braille. Their braille music is available for purchase.
Canadian
National Institute for the Blind
1929
Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4G 3E8.
Phone:
+1-416-480-7520 Toll-Free: 1-800-268-8818 Web site: www.cnib.ca
Contact:
Rachel Murray, Music Librarian
E-mail:
rachel.murray@cnib.ca
CNIB produces Braille music for sale as well as running a
library service containing approximately 18,500 titles of Braille music and a
variety of audio instructional courses.
Dancing
Dots
1754
Quarry Lane, P.O. Box 927, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0927.
Phone: +1
610-783-6692
Web site: www.dancingdots.com
E-mail:
info@dancingdots.com
Dancing Dots produce a variety of aids for blind musicians,
including the Goodfeel Braille music translator which turns print music into
Braille and can be used by both sighted and blind copyists. They also provide a
transcription service.
National
Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress
Web site: http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/
Music
section e-mail: nlsm@loc.gov
NLS has the largest collection of Braille music in the
world. They also hold audio cassette courses and large print music. Their
catalogue can be searched via the Web site.
Braille
Music Code 1997
Online
version of the current international Braille music code.
BrailleM
http://www.sunflower.org/~bhugh/braillem/
This is a Braille music e-mail list for the purposes of
discussing and learning about all aspects of the braille music code. It is a
communication tool for beginner, intermediate and advanced braille music
readers and transcribers. For a list of some of the most common Braille music
signs, visit:
http://www.sunflower.org/~bhugh/braillem/brmintro.html
Hadley
School for the Blind
http://www.hadley-school.org/Web_Site/Hadley-School.asp
The Hadley School for the Blind offers more than 90 distance
education courses to eligible students completely free of charge, including
courses in Braille music. Course materials arrive in the mail (a few are
downloadable), and for students in the U.S. and Canada, instructors are just a
toll-free call away.
