World Braille Day 2022: World Braille Day is an annual celebration observed on January 4th of every year. There are millions of visually impaired people living in the world. Unlike the normal human beings, these people will not be able to read and write with the help of their eyes.
As communication is a vital tool for any living in the world and to let those people come out of such circumstances, Louis Braille, a French educator has invented a new system called Braille Code that makes the visually challenged people learn and write.
As to honor and appreciate the work of Louis Braille who brought the Braille system of learning to the world, his birth anniversary is celebrated as World Braille Day.
The Day also raises awareness about issues the visually challenged person faces along with the importance of providing those people with access to reading and learning using Braille.
History of World Braille Day:
The year at which World Braille Day has been celebrated is anonymous. But this celebration Day is commemorated on the birthday of Louis Braille to honor his incredible work called Braille. He was born in France on January 4th, 1809.
His system has helped visually impaired people globally to read and write. As to appreciate and recognize his work for the betterment of the visually impaired, this celebration day has been created.
Both the eyes of Louis Braille got blinded as a result of an early childhood accident. Despite it, Braille has mastered his disability while still a boy.
Being a student in France’s Royal Institute for Blind Youth, he began developing a system of tactile code that will let blind people read and write quickly and efficiently.
Braille on getting the inspiration by the military cryptography Charles Barbier has constructed a new method specifically for the needs of the visually impaired.
He presented his work to his peers for the first time in 1824 when he was fifteen years old. It used bumps and indentation to represent the letters and numbers. Those who have visual problems can recognize it with the touch of their finger.
His system remains virtually unchanged until now and is known worldwide simply as braille. The original version of Braille’s code was arranged in the form of small rectangular blocks called cells. It has dots in a 3 x 2 pattern that is raised.
Every cell represented a letter, number, or punctuation. All the languages and certain subjects like mathematics, music, and computer programming can be read and written in this form since Braille is a code.
Braille published his first book in 1829 about the system he had created. It is named “Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them.”
The simplicity of this idea has allowed the books to begin their production on a large scale as this format made thousands of blind people read just by using their fingertips over the dots.
How to Celebrate World Braille Day:
Celebrating World Braille Day is quite simple. Make this Day as the best opportunity to introduce the books available in braille code to the person who you know is either visually impaired or partially sighted.
Let them learn everything like normal human beings. It is a form of honoring Louis Braille’s work for the visually impaired. Ensure you take braille books from your country as languages vary from all over the world.
You can even be a part of the awareness program conducted by the Non-governmental organization (NGO). Create awareness about the problems and challenges faced by visually impaired individuals.
Celebrate the people with such disabilities as visually challenged or impaired and don’t call them simply blind.
Why is World Braille Day observed on January 4?
The day marks the birth anniversary of Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille language. He was born on January 4, 1809 in France.
Louis lost his vision at a young age in an accident. Yet, he continued his studies and even obtained a scholarship to France’s Royal Institute for Blind Youth.
Prior to his invention, blind and partially visually impaired people used to read using the Haüy system, which involved Latin letters that were embossed on thick paper.
This method, however, was complicated and it only allowed people to read and not write. The drawbacks of the Haüy system encouraged Braille to come up with an easier alternative.
Interesting Facts about Braille:
- Braille is also an asteroid
In 1999, NASA’s Deep Space 1 flew past an asteroid on its way to photograph the Borrelly’s Comet and named it ‘9969 Braille’ in acknowledgment of Louis Braille.
- Braille is not a language
Braille is an alphabet that can be used to write almost any language and versions are available in Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Spanish, and more.
- There are two versions
Uncontracted Braille spells out every word, whereas contracted Braille is a shorthand version that abbreviates familiar words.
- There’s a version for math and science
There’s a unique version of Braille specifically for mathematics and science, called the Nemeth Code.
- There are toys in Braille
Family classics, such as Uno, Monopoly, and LEGO are available in Braille versions.
