World Braille Day
January 4, 2017
World Braille Day is celebrated globally on January 4 to commemorate the birth day and to recognize the efforts of Louis Braille, the creator of Braille code which helps blind people to read as well as write.
Louis Braille, the inventor of braille was born on January 4, 1809, in the town of Coupvray in northern France. He lost his sight at age three as a result of an eye injury. As a student, Louis struggled with the limited modes of reading and writing available to the blind and partially sighted.
Braille’s thirst for learning encouraged him to invent a new system for reading and writing for the blind. He created a simplified yet versatile coded system, using raised dots to represent numbers and letters, that we now call Braille.
However, the National Institute for Blind Youth refused to officially adopt his creation. In 1854, two years after his death, Braille was adopted by a school in Amsterdam in the Netherlands as the primary form of reading and writing.
Around 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide. According to National Braille Week, around 150 million people use braille – a code system of raised dots – as a form of literacy, as it allows users to spell, use punctuation and format text on a page.
Source: www.ibtimes.co.uk / www.afb.org
Image Credit: www.askideas.com / www.brailleworks.com
