2020 has certainly been a year like no other, with the world brought to its knees by a raging pandemic as the search for a vaccine continues apace. Despite all we faced, the year also saw a wide range of UKAAF activities and news which we thought would be worth rounding up in case you missed any.
UKAAF welcomed its new Chair, Roger Firman
Roger took over the reins from long-term UKAAF Chair and much-admired man, Richard West, who chaired his last AGM in June. Roger became Vice Chair back in 2019. His ‘day job’ is running a business, going strong since 2004, all about providing a high quality personalised transcription service for customers who require music, music-related and other materials in braille called Golden Chord.
New Chair Roger Firman wrote about Modified Stave Notation
Modified Stave Notation is a term given to describe music presented in a large print format to aid musicians and anyone wanting to play or learn music who has vision impairment. The main idea is to enlarge the music notes and make a score more consistent, while also altering the proportions involved to make it more readable for this class of user. Very often, written descriptions are given at the opening of the score about any unusual, or any unusually small symbols, stating where the symbols appear.
We looked at how Covid-19 might help drive disabled-friendly website development
Carina Birt, our PR Officer, looked at how the pandemic might help brands adopt more accessible websites.
We also looked at how best to communicate when blind during a pandemic
The difficulties faced by people who are blind and visually impaired as they adapt to a world of social distancing, have not been widely understood, as often these guys are just so stoic they don’t want to make a fuss—but that doesn’t mean this community hasn’t had even more challenges than usual.
We held our first virtual AGM
Back at the start of the year, we were busy promoting UKAAF’s upcoming Annual General Meeting but the pandemic rendered that impossible, so we decided in the end to go ahead and do this on Zoom. We had about 30 people successfully connect on the day: a mix of sighted, partially sighted and blind people.
RNIB and UKAAF co-hosted an international conference on English braille
In October, we partnered with RNIB to host General Assembly of the International Council on English Braille. This has been scheduled for May but had been postponed due to Covid-19. The exciting programme featured guest speakers, big tech companies, plenary sessions and new research. There were many subjects to explore, including Braille Music, Braille Dyslexia, UEB maths, and automated Braille production. There were also reports from the World Braille Council and the African Forum as well as individual countries, including USA, Ireland, Nigeria and New Zealand.
UKAAF partnered with AbilityNet at TechShare Pro 2020
Now in its 4th year, TechShare Pro is one of Europe’s leading accessibility and inclusive design events. It offers a blend of inspiration and practical insights, including business strategy, accessibility leadership and digital practice. Its goal is to share knowledge about how digital technology can build a more inclusive world for people with disabilities. UKAAF hosted ten sessions on accessibility and hosted a panel on the Future of Accessible Information.
Tim Nelms asked whether the tech sector is getting more focused on accessibility
UKAAF’s Tim Nelms found grounds for both optimism and pessimism for members in the latest Level Access study on ‘The State of Digital Accessibility 2020: The Technology Sector’.
