Celebrations of World Braille Day are going to take place all around the world presently. As the birthday of Louis Braille, the visionary developer of the Braille script, who was born in France in 1809, this day carries a unique significance because it is designated as his birthday.
For the purpose of recognizing the significant contribution that Braille makes to the fields of education, communication, and social inclusion, the United Nations has proclaimed January 4th as World Braille Day each and every year.
braille day
In addition to being a universal code rather than a language, Braille is a tool that may be used to write and read in a wide variety of languages. These languages include Sanskrit, Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Spanish, and many others.
National Institutes and Composite Regional Centres, which fall under the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, are currently in the process of planning a number of programs across the nation in celebration of this anniversary.
What is the history of World Braille Day?
Louis Braille was born on January 4th 1809. At the age of 3 he was accidentally blinded in both eyes. Inspired by the military cryptography he invented Braille “language for blind”. Braille was determined to invent a system of reading and writing that could bridge the gap in communication between the sighted and the blind. His system remains virtually unchanged to this day, and is known worldwide simply as braille. The birth date of Louis Braille is celebrated as World Braille Day.
What is the Purpose of Observing World Braille Day?
World Braille Day is observed to spread the necessity of Braille language and also to help people to make more works in Braille Language. That will eventually help visually impaired people to read and develop themselves.
What is Braille?
- Braille is a language for visually impaired people.
- Standard alphabets are represented using six dots in three rows.
- The dots are indented and are read using finger tips.
- Braille is not it’s own language but rather a code that can be translated into many languages.
- Braille was based on a tactile military code called night writing, developed by Charles Barbier in response to Napoleon’s demand for a means for soldiers to communicate silently at night and without a light source.
- Braille script is a language based on the patterns of raised dots on paper. The dots could be easily felt and one can read anything.
