Emmanuel Elisha Ford, using paper printed in the Braille alphabet, speaks at the launch of the preparatory process of the High-level meeting of the General Assembly on disability and development, 2012. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
World Braille Day is observed in order to raise awareness of the importance of braille as a means of communication in the full realization of the human rights for blind and partially sighted people.
The first official World Braille Day is celebrated on 4 January 2019.
What is Braille?
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. Braille (named after its inventor in 19th century France, Louis Braille) is used by blind and partially sighted people to read the same books and periodicals as those printed in a visual font. Use of braille allows the communication of important information to and from individuals who are blind or partially sighted, ensuring competency, independence and equality.
Braille is a means of communication for blind persons, as reflected in article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and is essential in the context of education, freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information and written communication, as well as for the social inclusion of blind persons, as reflected in articles 21 and 24 of the Convention.
http://www.un.org/en/events/brailleday/index.shtml
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
