Every 4th January the world observes World Braille Day to emphasise the importance of braille as a communication tool to realise the human right of every blind individual to information and knowledge. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly officially set this date to commemorate the birthday of Louis Braille, the inventor of this hand-drawn writing system.

In 2009, the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille's birth was commemorated by the World Blind Union and its partner organisations, leading to the establishment of World Braille Day. Recognising its importance, the UN General Assembly officially designated January 4 as World Braille Day in 2018, aligned with Louis Braille's birth date, and officially celebrated it for the first time on January 4, 2019.

UBS and LAI Braille Ministry

Bible organisations around the world in recent years have not only done the basic work of translating the Bible into various mother tongues or distributing the Bible to various regions. They are also expanding their outreach to the visually impaired, making Braille Bibles available in multiple languages to ensure the visually impaired have easy access to God's Word while also offering love, care, and friendship.

The Indonesian Bible Institute (LAI) is one of the Bible institutes that has been called to serve the visually impaired for several years. Working with its partners, LAI endeavours to make Braille Bibles available free of charge to the visually impaired in Indonesia. The production of Braille Bibles is done in collaboration between LAI and the Australian Bible Institute. Its delivery throughout Indonesia is made possible through the support of LAI ministry donors.

Pastor Ritson Manyonyo, pastor and chairman of the Elsafan Foundation that serves the visually impaired, said that the availability of Braille Bibles is very important for the visually impaired. "If blind Indonesian Christians get Braille Bibles, their faith will grow. They will become strong individuals, who will not feel sorry for themselves, who will not pity and trouble many people. If the blind live in prosperity and freedom, they will be enabled to be God's co-workers.

Braille ministries are active in 40+ countries.

The complete Braille Bible is currently available in over 50 languages worldwide. Meanwhile 200+ languages in the world have some Braille (New Testament only or some books of the Bible only).

In addition to this, there are also 100s of books in Braille issued by Bible institutes that contain non-Biblical content, for example: Literacy (basic literacy), textbooks, HIV, Covid-19, or calendars.

 

Each year Bible organisations across the globe provide Braille Bibles and other materials to help tens of thousands of people with visual impairments gain access to God's word and other knowledge.

 

UBS Ministry to PVDs (People with Visual Disability)

The World Fellowship of Bible Societies (United Bible Societies) began developing a ministry to people with visual disabilities around 1983, when the UBS conference was held in Darmstadt, Germany.

 

Before that year there were various formats and layouts used to transcribe the Bible text into Braille. The main aim of the conference was to overcome the problem of duplication or overlapping of services. There was a need for a Braille Bible that had a unified and structured design and layout. The Darmstadt conference was attended by 47 representatives from 17 Bible institutes and several other organisations. The conference also highlighted the questions that arose regarding Braille literacy, as many visually impaired people were still unfamiliar with the Braille script at that time.

 

The first result of this important meeting was the publication of a document in 1985, entitled 'Transcribing the Bible into Braille'. This document summarised the agreement on Bible Layout, providing a standardised approach. Remarkably, this manual is still the cornerstone of Braille Bible layout today, albeit in an updated form.

 

Translated from:ubscommunity.org