World Braille Day, celebrated since 2019, by the United Nations (UN), is observed to raise awareness of the importance of Braille, a tactile representation of alphabetic and numerical symbols using six dots to represent each letter and number, and even musical, mathematical and scientific symbols, as a means of communication in the full realization of the human rights for blind and partially sighted people.

UN points out that “as even under normal circumstances, persons with disabilities—one billion people worldwide— are less likely to access health care, education, employment and to participate in the community. They are more likely to live in poverty, experience higher rates of violence, neglect and abuse, and are among the most marginalized in any crisis-affected community”.

Of course, at LASIGE’s our research has focused on Braille input. One example is Hybrid-Brailler: Combining Physical and Gestural Interaction for Mobile Braille Input and Editing, co-authored by André Rodrigues and Tiago Guerreiro, where we use gestures made on the back of the mobile device for expedite Braille input. You can watch this small demo: