Image courtesy of Braille Works

NEW YORK—On January 4, the optical community observed World Braille Day, which is celebrated on the birthday of Louis Braille, who invented Braille code. This celebration of Braille extends throughout the month of January for National Braille Literacy Month in the U.S. As explained by Braille Works, Braille literacy is vital for how it empowers people with blindness and visual impairments to access information on their own. World Services for the Blind reported that only about 10 percent of legally blind people use braille daily today, a drastic drop from the 1960s, when about 50 percent did.

To celebrate and promote Braille Literacy this month, a number of nonprofits, organizations and companies are sharing resources. The National Braille Association is dedicated to providing continuing education to those who prepare braille, and to providing braille materials to visually impaired people. Its website hosts many resources including a blog, forums, webinars and music transcribers.

Braille Works offers a landing page dedicated to the importance of World Braille Day and Braille Literacy, which includes a toolkit for making your documents accessible. Lighthouse Guild offers comprehensive services that include Braille instruction. National Federation of the Blind (NFB) publishes the Braille Monitor 11 times a year, which covers the events and activities of the NFB, serves as a vehicle for advocacy, provides news about products and technology and more.

 
 
The publication is online, via email, in 14-point inkprint, in Braille and on USB flash drive. It is also available through the NFB-NEWSLINE program and via podcast by searching for “National Federation of the Blind—Braille Monitor.” The NFB also offers a list of Braille resources on its dedicated landing page. Two Blind Brothers offers a free Braille translator online, which allows users to convert text to Braille and Braille to text. The translated text can then be downloaded and shared to social media.

National Braille Literacy Month runs from January 1 through 31, every year.