A Case for Braille: Agendas and Meeting Minutes

What would happen if you, as the chair, turned up at a meeting without having prepared agendas, that is, assuming that no one received a copy forty-eight hours prior?
Wouldn’t there be a delay while a flustered secretary dashed off to the photocopier to make sure that every handout was copied, coalated, stapled and in nice neat folders within the time it took for everyone to pour a coffee, find places and pull out laptops?
It is considered a point of good order to have individual copies of meeting documents for everyone to follow.
Alternatively, you might have a powerpoint ready, in the interests of saving the environment and saving time, especially for a large group.
But what do your blind employees/stakeholders, who do not have access to these precious photocopies, do in such cases?
Does this sound like a familiar scenario?
“Oh, we didn’t produce a Braille version. Terribly sorry about that … can someone read the agenda to Joe Bloggs?”
No matter that Joe Bloggs has to take dictation on his amazing portable laptop thingie, (aren’t those devices remarkable!) or record it on his smart phone, (it’s all so fascinating isn’t it, the way technology helps!);
No matter that the meeting is held up courteously for several minutes whilst Joe types madly, trying not only to get through the embarrassing task with all eyes upon him, but copy everything accurately.
That’s the best case scenario! The usual situation is that no agenda in an alternate format is forthcoming and no one at all thinks to dictate it. So Joe simply has to listen, and hope that if he does not ask a question at what seems to be the right moment, the agenda will eventually afford an opportunity for him to do so.
Should it happen that he needs clarification about an item line in the budget, he will have to interrupt politely and ask for some context, as well as the item line he is curious about.
Considering what must seem like a very obscure niche market, Braille agendas and meeting minutes can be straightforward to produce and relatively inexpensive, in the hands of skilled Braille professionals. But formatting them in a thoughtful way for ease of access by the blind user is crucial.
There are companies which specialise in exceptionally good Braille production. Shop around to find prices and turn-around times that suit your organisational requirements.
Contact Valleys WordWorks for a quote.