First World Braille Day stresses on importance of written text

Braille provides a tactical representation of alphabetic and numerical symbols

Raising awareness on the importance of Braille for approximately 1.3 billion people living with some form of distance or near vision impairment, the United Nations observed the first official World Braille Day on Friday.

World Braille Day is marked annually on January 4 after the Day was proclaimed by the General Assembly last November, as a means of realising fully the human rights of visually-impaired and partially-sighted people, and bringing written language to the forefront as a critical prerequisite for fundamental freedoms.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that people who are visually impaired are more likely than those with full sight to experience higher rates of poverty and disadvantages amounting to a lifetime of inequality.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CPRD) cites Braille as a means of communication; and regards it as essential in education, freedom of expression and opinion, access to information and social inclusion for those who use it. The UN thus launched its first-ever flagship report on disability and development last year.

1.3bn
No. of people living with vision impairment globally

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