World Braille Day

4 january 2021

Interesting

On January 4, the world community celebrates World Day of Braille, which is used by blind and visually impaired people to read books and periodicals. This day, established by the resolution of the UN General Assembly on December 17, 2018, is celebrated to raise awareness of the importance of Braille as a means of communication for the full realization of the rights of blind and visually impaired people.

On October 22, 2020, the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled came into force in the Republic of Belarus. It became possible, without the permission of the right holder, to transform works into accessible formats, including Braille, as well as exchange such works, including through authorized bodies for cross-border exchange.

For reference:
The Braille alphabet, developed in 1824 by the French typhlo-pedagogue Louis Braille, is a tactile representation of alphabetic and numeric symbols using six dots to convey all letters and numbers, and even musical, mathematical and scientific symbols. It is used by blind and visually impaired people to read the same books and periodicals that are printed with visual fonts.