Oct 11, 2026 · 49 min · 11 segments
The 41st CSUN Assistive Technology Conference took place from 9-13 March 2026, introducing an impressive assortment of new braille products! Everything from the most advanced notetaker to the simplest…
Judy DixonPanelistDave WilliamsHost
Michael BabcockPanelist
Matthew HorspoolHostWhat I'm going to do is go through some of the products that were showcased at the event.
There will be time for you to add others, but this was kind of an initial list and in no particular order.
So we're going to start with Braille note takers and firstly focus on the HumanWare BrailleNote Evolve.
Yes, they have three versions, a 20-cell and a 32-cell that are Braille keyboard devices, and a 40-cell, which I'm a 40-cell person.
But the 40-cell one has a QWERTY keyboard, and it looks like the Mantis keyboard.
And for those who are unfamiliar, Judy, with the Evolve, do you want to just explain for everyone what BrailleNote Evolve is and how it perhaps differs from previous products in the BrailleNote family?
It's the next generation of Braille Notes and its claim to fame is that it's a Windows computer.
So you have the Keysoft applications running on a Windows environment, but they assure me that you can say bye-bye to Keysoft and have it boot directly into Windows if you prefer.
And do you want to talk about screen reader support where BrailleNote is concerned?
I didn't ask that question, so I'm assuming it supports all the usual screen readers that any Windows computer would assume, but maybe somebody else knows more.
But I think JAWS and NVDA are both supposed to work equally on this guy as a single line.
When I was speaking to the HumanWare folks, they didn't bring any special attention to either one.
There was an announcement made, I believe, and I don't know if this is geographically restricted, but about for new owners of the Evolve, six months free of JAWS.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was only US because that's usually how it goes.
And then presumably after the six months, then you're invited to subscribe to JAWS.
What I'm going to do is go through some of the products that were showcased at the event.
There will be time for you to add others, but this was kind of an initial list and in no particular order.
So we're going to start with Braille note takers and firstly focus on the HumanWare BrailleNote Evolve.
Yes, they have three versions, a 20-cell and a 32-cell that are Braille keyboard devices, and a 40-cell, which I'm a 40-cell person.
But the 40-cell one has a QWERTY keyboard, and it looks like the Mantis keyboard.
And for those who are unfamiliar, Judy, with the Evolve, do you want to just explain for everyone what BrailleNote Evolve is and how it perhaps differs from previous products in the BrailleNote family?
It's the next generation of Braille Notes and its claim to fame is that it's a Windows computer.
So you have the Keysoft applications running on a Windows environment, but they assure me that you can say bye-bye to Keysoft and have it boot directly into Windows if you prefer.
And do you want to talk about screen reader support where BrailleNote is concerned?
I didn't ask that question, so I'm assuming it supports all the usual screen readers that any Windows computer would assume, but maybe somebody else knows more.
But I think JAWS and NVDA are both supposed to work equally on this guy as a single line.
When I was speaking to the HumanWare folks, they didn't bring any special attention to either one.
There was an announcement made, I believe, and I don't know if this is geographically restricted, but about for new owners of the Evolve, six months free of JAWS.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was only US because that's usually how it goes.
And then presumably after the six months, then you're invited to subscribe to JAWS.
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