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World Braille Day returns for 2020 on 4th January. This annual day aims to raise awareness for those who are blind or visually impaired as well as to teach the world more about Braille and how it is used. It is a yearly reminder of the importance of accessibility and independence for those who are visually impaired. However, despite there being almost two million people in the UK alone living with sight loss, many organisations still don’t use Braille on their menus or other handouts.

World Braille Day is acknowledged every year on the 4th January because it is the inventor’s birthday. Louis Braille was born in France in 1809 and became blind following an accident during his childhood, he used this experience to revolutionise his way of living and is credited with inventing Braille, a system where the written word can be read by touch rather than sight, when he was just fifteen. Since then, Braille has been refined and is now used all over the world as a way for people with sight loss and blindness to communicate. It is used in lots of every day places, like on cash machines, though sadly, it is still not widely available – but you can change that!

This World Braille Day, let’s get together to raise more awareness about Braille and other accessible forms of communication and see how we can make our environments more accessible. Whether you are a restaurant, hotel, shop or an office, having Braille as an option means more people can use your services and have the freedom to choose their dinner, their room requirements and more. Little changes, like including Braille on signs, menus and other print outs is just a small way that you can make your business more welcoming and inclusive without having to refurbish or budget for huge structural changes. You can find more information about Braille and how to implement it here.

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