If you can’t give the gift of sight, give the gift of Braille on the 200th Anniversary of its creation.

Above: Teacher Nouf Kerfil (left, Deaf-Blind Association Bouake) helps Issa to learn Braille and studies with him. Credit: CBM/Diemer

Braille is 200 years old this year and January 4th is World Braille Day. First recognised as an official ‘international day’ in 2018 by the United Nations General Assembly, World Braille Day is an acknowledgment firstly of the groundbreaking creation by Louis Braille in 1824 this year.   

Louis Braille was a Frenchman who lost his eyesight as a child when he accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with his father’s awl. From the age of 10, he spent time at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in France, where he formulated and perfected the system of raised dots that eventually became known as Braille.  He didn’t quite live to see his creation transform into the life-changing invention that opened up a world of accessibility to the blind and visually impaired.  January 4th was his birthday. 

In case you don’t know, 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 and is used by blind and partially sighted people to read the same books and periodicals as those printed in a visual font. 

Ireland signed up to the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disability (UN CRPD) in 2007 and took nearly 12 years to ratify it in 2018. Now ratified Ireland has a responsibility under its international commitments “to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.” 

Braille is mentioned several times in the UNCRPD. Article 2, which defines the term “communication”, lists Braille among the different means and formats of communication accessible for persons with disabilities. Article 9 on accessibility imposes on States Parties the obligation to use Braille in buildings and other facilities open to the public. Article 21 on freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information requires Parties to the Convention to accept and facilitate the use of sign languages, Braille, augmentative and alternative communication, and all other accessible means, modes and formats of communication of their choice by persons with disabilities in official interactions. Article 24 of the CRPD on inclusive education sets out the obligation to employ teachers who are qualified in Braille, in order to facilitate the learning of Braille for students who are blind or partially sighted. 

The CRPD requires both ‘reasonable accommodation’ and ‘universal design’ meaning that states and duty bearers should make appropriate modification and adjustments that do not impose a disproportionate or undue burden, and to ensure the design of products, environments, programmes and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible. This is simply for people with disabilities to exercise their human rights on an equal basis with others. 

Reading those commitments, you would think that Braille would be ubiquitous across Irish society. How often do you come across it as you go about your everyday life? Hardly at all I would say. If it isn’t visible to you, how much harder is it going to be to find and access for someone who needs it? If this is the situation in Ireland, one of the richest countries in the world, how might it be in places where the resources are much more limited? 

In Christian Blind Mission – as you might guess from the name – we work to support people with disabilities, irrespective of the disability, but have a particular emphasis on visual impairments. While often our work is to help people affected by, or at risk of, blindness, through life-changing surgery, there are many times when that just isn’t possible. Globally, there are 43 million people living with blindness and 295 million people living with moderate-to-severe visual impairment. Out of these, a huge 77% is completely preventable or treatable. Unfortunately, the majority of these live in developing countries. When treatment is not possible, the rights of people to reasonable accommodation and universal design, particularly through investment in Braille resources, is hugely important. Yet, there is limited investment.  

I am an avid reader. I couldn’t imagine not being able to pick up a book and delve into the thoughts and ideas of different readers. I am thankful to God that I do not yet even need glasses – although my Optometrist wife tells me that as I have turned 45, my days are numbered.   

The simple pleasure of reading is denied to many just because books in Braille are not available. The provision of Braille books, for education and for pleasure – is reasonable accommodation. It is not overburdensome. It may put some pressure on the public purse but surely no cost-benefit analysis is needed. We spend money on less important things.  

Under the UNCRPD Ireland is also committed to making sure its overseas aid is inclusive and accessible to people with disabilities. Investing in Braille resources would be a simple and straightforward way to enable children in schools be included in education in some of the poorest countries in the world. It is 200 years since Braille was invented yet there are millions of people, and millions of children, who, for lack of money and lack of prioritisation, do not have access to the most basic of things: books. 

We have been asking the Irish Government to increase its investment in people with disability. We want Irish Aid to make sure all of its overseas aid is inclusive of people with disabilities. What would be a more fitting way to mark the 200th anniversary of the life changing invention of Louis Braille than for the Irish government to ringfence a fixed amount of its overseas assistance for disability inclusion? 

In places like Kilifi in Kenya or Manicaland in Zimbabwe where CBM Ireland is working, the gift of a book in Braille may not quite be the gift of sight for a child, but it can open the door to the imagination, to education and to inclusion in society. 

 Dualta Roughneen is CEO of Christian Blind Mission (CBM) Ireland.