World Braille Day
World Braille Day is observed on January 4 since 1952. It is birthday of Louis Braille who invented reading and writing system for visually challenged people.
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.
Quick facts Louis Braille
- Louis Braille was born on 4th of January 1809 Coupvray.
- Louis Braille was died on 6th of January 1852 Paris France.
- Braille Language was officially accepted by the institute two years after his death.
- Braille Language is the one and only language for blind used till date.
- Advanced Braille Language like Braille computer terminals, Robo Braille and Nemeth Braille have been developed.
Did You Know?
The estimated number of people visually impaired in the world is 285 million, 39 million blind and 246 million having low vision.
About 90% of the world’s visually impaired live in developing countries.
India has one of the world’s largest population of the visually disabled. According to the 2011 Census, more than five million people suffer from blindness.
India currency notes have different identification marks depending on the denomination. These marks are printed in intaglio—raised print—that help the visually impaired to differentiate between notes.
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