Braillecast

4 January is Louis Braille's birthday (he would have been 211 this year if he was still alive). It's no coincidence, then, that, since 2019, the United Nations has formally celebrated this date as "World Braille Day", an international day of observance "... to raise awareness of the importance of Braille as a means of communication in the full realization of the human rights for blind and partially sighted people." In spite of its recency, it already feels firmly established in the calendars of the sight loss industry, attracting a great deal of online publicity this year. Perhaps that's because, for many, the significance of Louis Braille's birthday predates the UN's intervention: organisations in the United States of America have observed National Braille Literacy MOnth in January since at least 2011, and Royal Blind's National Braille Week in the UK was held in the week containing 4 January until 2013. (It's now held in the second week in October to coincide with the International Agency for the Prevention