MORE BRAILLE: MORE EMPOWERMENT – Launching the Global Braille Survey (Episode 79)

Hi, Matthew, and, um, greetings to everyone from wherever you are.

Either good morning, good afternoon, or good evening.

It's my great pleasure to introduce the Global Braille Literacy Campaign.

It's a collaborative initiative, as Matthew has mentioned, of the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment, World Blind Union, and our many partner organizations and individuals around the world.

Our shared vision is simple but ambitious, that every person who needs braille has the opportunity to become braille literate and to use braille throughout life.

Our campaign is founded on a powerful principle.

Braille literacy is a human right, not a privilege.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes braille as an essential means of communication and calls on governments to facilitate its learning.

Realizing this right means ensuring access to qualified teachers, quality instruction, braille and tactile learning materials, and the technologies that support literacy and independence.

So let me tell you a little bit about the origins of the campaign.

So the campaign grew from the worldwide celebration of the bicentenary of the braille code in 2024, commemorating 200 years since Louis Braille developed the reading and writing system that has transformed the lives of millions of people who are blind.

The Bicentenary reminded the world that braille is far more than a code.

It is the foundation of literacy, education, employment, independence, and inclusion.

So as the celebrations came to a close, a simple question emerged: What comes next? [chuckles] So rather than allowing the momentum of the Bicentenary to fade, ICEVI and the World Blind Union recognized an opportunity to transform a year of celebration into a global movement.

We shared a vision that every person who needs braille should have access to the literacy skills that open the door to education, employment, independence, and lifelong participation in society.

Working together with collaborating organizations and individuals, we established the Global Braille Literacy Campaign to turn that vision into practical action.

And the need for the campaign remains clear.

In many countries, children who would benefit from braille still do not receive timely instruction.

Adults who lose their sight often have limited opportunities to learn braille later in life.

And many education systems continue to face shortages of qualified teachers, insufficient access to quality learning materials and braille technologies, and inadequate investment in lifelong braille literacy.

So the two-year campaign was first introduced internationally at the World Blindness Summit in São Paulo, Brazil, in September 2025.

It was officially launched on World Braille Day, 4th of January 2026, under the theme More Braille, More Empowerment.

So we established a steering committee, which is the governing body and operates under a terms of reference, co-chaired by SK Rungta, President of the World Blind Union, and myself as past president of ICEVI, and the steering committee provides strategic direction and oversight of the campaign.

The campaign translates its vision into action through three complementary focus areas, each area designed to strengthen braille literacy in a different way.

So the first is advocacy and public awareness, promoting braille literacy through public education and awareness raising using social media and other messaging options.