World Braille Day 2023 is celebrated on the 4th of January every year. It is a day to recognize and honor the work of Louis Braille, who is the inventor of the Braille system of reading and writing for blind and visually impaired people.

You all must know that blind people have a different system by which they can read and write. Braille is not a language, it is a system of writing and reading. Blind people can read and understand anything written in Braille by touching the dots from left to right. There was a time when we could not even imagine that such a system would be made by which blind people would be able to read and write without any help. Even after the Braille system was created, it was not accepted for hundreds of years. But ever since this system has been accepted, we celebrate World Braille Day every year on January 4 in honor of its inventor, Louis Braille.

What is Braille Script?

Braille is a tactual language. Under this, a code is made in three lines of six raised dots. One can read any information written in Braille by touching the dots from left to right. This technique is now being used in computers as well so that blind people can now work technically as well.

Who was Louis Braille?

Louis Braille was a French educator. He was born on 4 January 1809. Louis came from a middle-class family, his father Simon Rayleigh Braille working as a saddler for the royal horses. Due to financial constraints, Louis used to cooperate with his father at work.

How Louis Lost His Sight?

Due to financial constraints at home, at the age of playing with fancy toys, Louis used to work with wood, horseshoe, rope, and iron tools with his father. Braille was blinded at the age of three in one eye as a result of an accident with a stitching awl in the harness-making shop of his father. Consequently, an infection set in and spread to both eyes, resulting in total blindness.

Invention of the Braille System

Louis got admission to a school for blind children. When he was 12 years old, he came to know that a special cipher code has been made for the army so that messages can be read even in the dark. Louis met with the pastor of his school and requested him to meet Captain Charles Barber, the creator of the cipher. With the help of Captain Charles Barber, Louis started the work of scripting for blind people. After 8 years of hard work, in 1829 he prepared the script quoted on 6 points, but it was not recognized.

This Braille script created by Louis was slowly becoming popular among blind people, but the Braille script was not accepted by the educationists. Louis could not see this script being officially recognized. A hundred years after his death, his script was recognized.

One hundred years after the death of Louis Braille, his death anniversary was set as a day of his honor. The army and the local administration apologized for ignoring his work, and his burials were cremated with honors by wrapping those remains in the national flag with a national song. The United Nations General Assembly on November 2018 decided to officially celebrate 4 January as World Braille Day. After this, the first World Braille Day was celebrated on 4 January 2019.

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