Every year, World Braille Day comes around on the fourth of January, reminding society of the significance of Braille as a communication tool that gives eyes to the blind and other visually impaired individuals. Braille opens a whole new world for these people by letting them engage in reading and writing in their own unique way. It singlehandedly raised the literacy rate in the visually impaired population. Braille makes the world immensely more accessible and helps them to integrate into society better without facing isolation.
Braille is a tactile writing system that consists of dots in which every six dots represent a letter and a number. Moreover, the dots stand for mathematical, scientific, and musical symbols. To read one uses touch and to write, tools such as a slate, stylus, and card-stock paper are needed. Braillewriters are also available for typing and numerous applications and tools specified for blind people are helpful in using this method.
Nowadays, almost every visually impaired person uses Braille as opposed to back then when they had limited methods such as using print letter shapes embossed on paper with wire or the Lucas Reading System. While these methods served the purpose, they also made the process more tedious and difficult. In comparison, Braille is much easier to use, and it also does not slow down the reading and writing experience. Hence why, the invention of the Braille System is considered groundbreaking.
To honour this ingenious invention, World Braille Day is commemorated on the date of birth of Louis Braille, the founder of Braille. The tale of inventing braille came from a place of tragedy. As a child, Louis Braille accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with his father’s awl and lost his vision. He went to the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in France for education, where he developed and perfected the raised-dot system that eventually became known as Braille.
Unfortunately, most of the time, the visually disabled minority is overlooked. Thus, the existence of World Braille Day offers a golden chance to promote discussions about the rights of disabled people, challenges that blind and partially sighted people face on a daily basis and treatment of eye disease. It is a day to be educated, educate others, and start to think more consciously about how one can be inclusive to blind and partially sighted individuals every day.
