by Denise Colley, Braille Revival League President
On January 4, 2024, starting at 1 p.m. Eastern time, the Braille Revival League (BRL) will begin a seven-hour extravaganza intended to demonstrate what we know! Braille Matters! There will be lots of presentations, lots of prizes, lots of opportunities for everyone to participate, and no reason for you not to be there.
Braille is the means of communication that enables people who are blind to be competitive in the world of work, to be creative, to play games, to mark and label, and so much more! Our organization is concerned that there is not enough excitement about braille, and we want to change that! We want to get everyone excited about what braille can do and look ahead to what the Braille Revival League can do to make braille more and more valued and relevant.
Come and hear from representatives from the Braille Authority of North America (BANA), the Clovernook Printing House for the Blind, the National Braille Press, the National Library Service (NLS), Horizons for the Blind, the Dream Vision Group and the Braillists Foundation from the United Kingdom.
We will talk about the work we are going to do trying to get braille labels on products. We will talk about the support we offer to the National Library Service as they launch braille e-readers and braille on demand. We will talk with agencies across the country who teach braille or produce it. We will explore approaches that are making braille exciting to children in school. We will hear from our state affiliates about what is going on in states where there are chapters of the Braille Revival League.
Our hope is that this event, occurring on the birthday of Louis Braille, will become an annual occurrence. We will be able each year to use this day to celebrate what we have done over the preceding year to make braille better known and more available.
You will hear much more about our presentation as time goes on. For now, keep your ears open for more news about “Braille Matters.” It will be on ACB Media and on Zoom! We need all of you to put January 4 on your calendars and plan to spend most of the day celebrating braille with us! Come and help us make this day a huge success!!