World Braille Day 2022: Know History and Significance Of Braille And How it Helps in Reading To Commemorate Louis Braille Birth Anniversary

World Braille Day is an international observance that is celebrated annually on 4th January to aware people of the importance of Braille and the overall realization of Human Rights in the lives of blinds and people with partial eyesight. Braille should be accepted as a medium of education and communication. The date of the event marks the Birth Anniversary of Louis Braille, creator of the Braille writing system. Braille is basically a tactile representation of numerical, and alphabetic symbols using six dots to represent each letter and number, and even musical, mathematical, and scientific symbols

World Braille Day 2022- History 

 French Man Louis Braille had invented the Braille system after being blinded in an accident with an awl when his eyes got severely injured and at a very young age, he lost his vision in both eyes. Braille has been included in Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a form of necessitating “education, freedom of expression and opinion, as well as social inclusion”.

World Braille Day 2022- Significance 

While it is very normal for people with the right vision to look around the environment with their naked eyes, it becomes a little difficult for those with impaired vision to do daily chores. Every year, non-governmental organisations and the UN organize seminars and other activities to make people familiarize themselves with the Braille code.

As per the UN Website, "During the COVID-19 pandemic, many good practices have been implemented by parts of the United Nations system to promote a disability-inclusive response to the COVID-19 and disseminate information in Braille".

How does Braille Help In Reading? 

 The Braille typewriter is not like a typical typewriter with bulged keys. Braillers have six tactile keys correlating to each of the six dots in the braille cell as well as a space key, an enter button, and a backspace button. People with impaired vision use their sense of touch to figure out the Braille code to understand the text and message. In recent years, some toys have become available in brailles like a Rubik’s Cube and the famous card game UNO, and LEGOs as well.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 04, 2022 07:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).