World Braille Day commemorates inventor

About 80 blind and visually impaired South Africans will celebrate World Braille Day today at a nursery garden, which was especially designed and developed for the blind, in Centurion south of Pretoria. The plants have been marked in Braille, and people are able to feel and taste most of the plants in the garden.

Other activities at the centre will include an aromatherapy demonstration, a presentation on astrology and a walk with puppies which are being trained as Guide Dogs. Today marks the birth date of Louis Braille, who lost his eyesight in an accident and invented the Braille reading and writing system, when he was only 12 years-old. Braille is read by passing the fingers over characters made up of an arrangement of one to six embossed points and has been adapted to almost every known language.

Project leader, Ronél Coetser says: "This year is very special because it's a 100 years and the commemoration has a lot to do also with how Braille was developed and the equipment now used... when you compare it with the first Braille script that was developed. And we will have some pictures and some equipment for people who are interested to see how it's done now."