Each year, as things wind down, I take a moment to reflect on what Knights of the Braille has done throughout the year and what is next. In the coming year, Knights of the Braille will be shifting focus away from advocacy and back toward what has always been our heart: community and support. We’re not going anywhere, but we are being intentional about how we show up. This post is my way of laying out that direction and the thinking behind it.

Quote: “A lady once offered me a mat, but as I had no room to spare within the house, nor time to spare within or without to shake it, I declined it, preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door. It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.”

That Henry David Thoreau quote above has stuck with me. It’s a reminder to pause before adding something new, to ask whether it truly belongs. About two years ago, I began simplifying my personal life. Not to do less, but to feel more grounded and in control. I still overextend myself (some habits die hard), but my plans and actions are more focused now. Lately, I’ve been applying that same lens to Knights of the Braille.

In order for folks to understand the simplification of Knights of the Braille’s focus and our plans moving forward, I’m going to share how we started and where we ended up.

Why Did I Start Knights of the Braille?

I’m Jim, and back in 2017, while working at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, I was tasked with calling clients across the country as CNIB transitioned to a new internal database. One theme came up again and again while speaking with blind and visually impaired people across Canada: isolation. So many people in our community lacked social interaction. In some instances they didn’t know any other blind or visually impaired people and in other cases they had no family or friends.

At the time, I’d just joined an in-person peer support group for visually impaired folks through Vision Loss Rehabilitation in Toronto, and it changed everything for me. Meeting others who “got it” made me feel less alone. It gave me momentum. And as I spoke to clients each day, I kept thinking about how many of them didn’t have access to that kind of support, whether due to geography, additional disabilities or anxiety. I thought about those people a lot. I mean, a lot.

So in 2018, I posted on r/Blind, jumped into a Google Hangout with a bunch of fellow blind nerds and Knights of the Braille was born. It felt incredible, connecting virtually each week to play Dungeons & Dragons with other blind and visually impaired folks. There was this instant sense of belonging, like finding long-lost friends.

What Did Knights of the Braille Become?

As Knights of the Braille grew, a hard truth set in: much of the tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) space simply wasn’t accessible. I was lucky enough to befriend Richard in the Knights of the Braille community and the two of us spent countless hours discussing the barriers, especially the inaccessibility of game PDFs. We brainstormed ways to push for change and we shifted our focus toward advocacy and hands-on accessibility work, knowing full well that the TTRPG industry is vast. Even making a small dent would require a team of hundreds. Still, we tried with just the two of us.

Convincing publishers to make their products accessible was an uphill battle. While you and I might see it as the right thing to do, many small businesses operate on razor-thin margins and couldn’t justify the upfront cost. Profit, not principle, often drives decisions. We campaigned to show that accessibility didn’t have to be expensive. A simple text document with proper headings could make a game readable by screen readers. It would take maybe twenty minutes of training and a bit of editorial time. But most publishers refused to move beyond PDFs, citing branding, piracy concerns or workflow limitations. Even worse, Drive Thru RPG, the largest digital storefront for TTRPGs, uses watermarking that strips accessibility formatting from files. We reached out, pleaded, explained. Drive Thru RPG’s r response? “Dots RPG is working with us on it.” And then… silence. Drive Thru RPG still disrupts accessibility from PDFs to this day.

We did reach a few creators, mostly small, passionate folks who wanted to make their content accessible but didn’t have the time. So we stepped in and did the work for them, for free. We hoped this would inspire others to follow suit. It didn’t. As a result, our time shifted away from the Knights of the Braille community and toward unpaid accessibility labor. Then COVID hit. Lockdown was hard. I retreated from the community and poured everything into accessibility work. It was exhausting. And it stopped feeling fun.

I wasn’t sure what to do next. I tried podcasts and livestreams to raise awareness, hoping it would strengthen our advocacy. But it didn’t move the needle. Instead, I felt pulled in too many directions. Accessibility work, advocacy, content creation and our annual Everyone-Games event. Each task took me further from the heart of the community and left me unsure of what Knights of the Braille was really doing.

Today, the TTRPG landscape isn’t dramatically more accessible. But tools and technologies (screen readers, AI, formatting plugins) are starting to bridge some gaps. That doesn’t mean the fight for accessibility is over. It means our energy might be better spent where tools can’t do the work: building community, offering support and creating spaces where blind and visually impaired players feel seen, heard and welcome.

What Do I Want Knights of the Braille To Be?

I’m a pessimist by nature (I can’t help it, I’m British). And outside of gaming, I see a tough road ahead for the blind and visually impaired community. Unemployment for our community remains high and the job market is tightening. Opportunities feel fewer and the pressure is growing. Managing our mental health is hard enough without all this looming uncertainty. Perhaps I’m wrong and there is light on the horizon (I hope I am wrong), but the black dog frequently hounds my doorway and I air on the side of pessimism.

That’s why I want to create a space where people can leave all that behind. A place to be a bounty hunter on a spaceship, a wizard fighting evil or just someone who gets to laugh and roll dice with friends. I believe the need for community will only grow in the coming decade. And I want to be ready.

Knights of the Braille doesn’t feel like what I started with. And I think that’s on me.

I want our space to be a place where you can roll dice, tell stories and switch off the worry for a while, knowing the people at the table understand what you carry. Even if you never play with us, I hope the tone we set ripples outward. And I’m not stepping away from advocacy entirely. I’ll continue sharing advice and resources to help others make their games accessible. Because every table that opens its doors a little wider makes a difference.

2026

This coming year will be a busy one for me, in which I’m welcoming a new child and pursuing further education, all while working. As such, I’m setting realistic goals for me to achieve with Knights of the braille. Those three goals are:

• Establish core principles for Knights of the Braille.
• Begin formulating plans for how to setup community events.
• Continue sharing resources on our website and in blogs.

I’m also still working on two tabletop roleplaying games behind the scenes. As mentioned, we did a lot of work with publishers to make games accessible, but we want something of our own that we can guarenteee will always be accessible. Expect more information on these in 2027.

For now, things will run as usual, no changes. I’m in no position to implement community changes and host events untl 2027. So, until then, I’ll be making plans and preparing simple changes and solutions to get back to focusing on community.

Happy new year! I look forward to the future of Knights of the Braille.