Students Introduced to Braille

World Braille Day was recognized at Isaac E. Young Middle School and Daniel Webster Elementary School on January 4, with students who receive educational vision services being introduced to braille, the tactile reading and writing system used by the visually impaired. 

World Braille Day honors Louis Braille who created the system in 1824 at the age of 15, and “brightened the lives of millions of people around the world who are blind or visually impaired, and they benefit from his work every day,” said Joy Bieder, the district’s teacher of the visually impaired. 

Although none of her 20 students use braille as their primary reading or writing tool, Mrs. Bieder told them about the system and they took a tour of their school, identifying braille signs, which are placed in a variety of locations. They also practiced the braille alphabet, brailled names of classmates, POKEMON, and UNO cards, and made some designs using the brailler, such as a candy cane. 

It was clearly an exercise that engaged the students. Destiny, a student at IEYMS, said, “Wow, I am happy that people who are blind are able to have a way to read and write,” and Peyton, also at IEYMS, found it “cool.”

“I want to make more pictures in braille,” said a Webster student. 

For most students, the concept was brand new, but Hannah, a Webster student, had already noticed the raised dots in some places. “l see braille in elevators,” she said. Now she knows what they are!

More information about World Braille Day can be found at https://www.un.org/en/observances/braille-day.