My name is Kyle, and I am a member of the blind community. I am glad that CCRW is celebrating World Braille Day as its very important to me. Braille opens many doors for members of the blind community, and I have learned a lot about Braille.

A brailler is a machine that creates the braille print on paper, I am quite familiar with the companies that make them as it is a passion for me. I learned how they work and what the process of making braille pages is like. Braille is a language for the blind to allow them to read. Braille uses a 6 raised dot system to write letters and by running your hand over the raised dots on the page you are able to read the words.

To me Braille is a symbol for blind people that allows them to read like members of the sighted community. It can also be a tool for teaching the sighted community about what the experience of being blind is like and a source of engagement. By engaging the sighted community with tools and awareness about blindness we can work towards being more accommodating and working towards ending stigma against the blind.

In the workplace I know Braille can be used to pass on written communication from employers to blind employees in the workplace, by printing resources and written documents by using the braille writing system, it allows blind employees to engage with written material. There is also an electric brailler that can change the raised dots to read out webpages.

For me especially Braille is a bridge between the sighted community and the blind community. It is a way for the blind community to handle money, provide greeting cards, handle documents, and generally replaces written communication. I have even seen it be used on charms that are being sold! This is quite important as it shows the prevalence of Braille is growing and it is becoming more normalized which is great for inclusivity of the blind community.

One of the best sides for me is being able to use brailled card games! This allows me to play games like Uno, or cards with my family which is such a fun thing for me. Braille is an important resource for members of the blind community, and I hope that World Braille Day brings exposure and awareness to its uses for inclusion.