Every year on January 4, the world celebrates “World Braille Day” to honour the birth of Braille’s inventor, Louis Braille.
Braille’s gift to the world has brightened the lives of millions of blind people around the world.
The term ‘Braille’ was dubbed after its creator. Louis Braille was a Frenchman who lost his eyesight as a child when he accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with his father’s awl. From the age of 10, he spent time at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in France, where he formulated and perfected the system of raised dots that eventually became known as Braille.
Braille completed his work, developing a code based on cells with six dots, making it possible for a fingertip to feel the entire cell unit with one touch and moving quickly from one cell to the next. Eventually, Braille slowly came to be accepted throughout the world as the main form of written information for blind people.
Unfortunately, he passed away in 1852, two years before the Royal Institute began teaching Braille.
Braille’s gift that opened up a world of accessibility to the blind and visually impaired was recognised by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
In November 2018, January 4 was declared World Braille Day. The first-ever World Braille Day was commemorated the following year, and it was celebrated as an international holiday.
The date for the event, as chosen by UNGA via a proclamation, marks Louis Braille’s birthday.
