January 4 is known across the globe as World Braille Day, a day set aside by the United Nations to celebrate and reach blind and visually impaired persons.
The day has been celebrated since 2019 to raise awareness for the importance of Braille and its relevance in providing a means for blind and partially impaired people to read and communicate.
Five things you must know about World Braille Day
- According to the United Nations, Braille is a tactile representation of alphabetic and numerical symbols using six dots to represent each letter and number, and even musical, mathematical and scientific symbols.
- World Braille Day is derived from the word ‘braille’, the name of the communication aid used by visually impaired people to read books and periodicals just like books printed with conventional fonts.
- Braille was invented in the 19th century by a French nationale known as Louis Braille.
- The aid is a means of communication for the blind and partially impaired towards the full realisation of their human rights.
- As shown in Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, World Braille Day is celebrated to underscore how essential the instrument is for the freedom of expression and to improve social inclusion.