Braille Literacy Week

January, Week 1: Braille Literacy Week

Braille Literacy Week

Ohio and California designated the first week of January as Braille Literacy Week.

Louis Braille, born on January 4, 1809, invented the Braille system in 1829. An accident blinded him when he was three-years-old. He attended the Royal Institute for Blind Youth (now the National Institute for Blind Youth) in Paris. The school’s founder, Valentin Haüy, had invented the Haüy system, which used heavily embossed Latin letters used for tactile reading. Haüy was not blind himself, but he was a philanthropist who devoted his life to helping the blind. Haüy system allowed for books to be read, but the system was complex and children has no way to write by themselves.

In 1821, Braille learned night writing, a communication system developed by Captain Charles Barbier of the French Army. It was a code of dots and dashes pressed into thick paper, allowing soldiers to share information without speaking or needing light. Braille significantly simplified the system and published it in 1824. This method allow both reading and writing.

Braille said, “Access to communication in the widest sense is access to knowledge, and that is vitally important for us if we [the blind] are not to go on being despised or patronized by condescending sighted people. We do not need pity, nor do we need to be reminded we are vulnerable. We must be treated as equals – and communication is the way this can be brought about.”

The goal of this week is to bring awareness of the importance of braille and the need to continue providing braille reading materials.

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⇴ image purchased from vecteezy

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