As a reminder that Braille education is crucial to literacy and literacy is crucial to education, World Braille Day is observed on January 4. While records and tapes are enjoyable, Braille is essential for note taking and helpful for studying subjects such as math, spelling, and foreign languages.

Few inventions have been as simple yet liberating as Braille. Invented by a young Frenchman Louis Braille, who was blind and became a teacher of the blind, Braille is a writing system which enables the blind and the partially sighted people to read and write through touch. Today it has been adapted to write many languages and is used for musical and mathematical notations. Its invention has led to new ways to help people with disabilities, such as detectable warnings which are also known as Braille for the feet.

It took more than a century before people could accept Braille as an excellent way for the blind to read and write. The development of the system is now recognized as the single occurrence that made it possible for the blind to get an education.

Times have changed, however, and overstretched school budgets for the blind and the ever-evolving portable audio books are putting Braille aside and people are now underestimating the effectiveness of Braille. New technology is cheaper than hiring a Braille teacher and gadgets could also allow users to listen to e-books or articles, depending on the application downloaded.

But ignoring the Braille could have serious consequences. A study found that blind students who had been taught Braille early in their childhood scored about the same as students who can see on a standardized test reading comprehension.

Braille will always be to the blind his window on the world as they get the encouragement to spend the time and make the effort needed to develop new reading and writing skills that depend on feeling rather than seeing.