Motivated by stories and ideas from blind people around the world, the LEGO Foundation and LEGO Group will pilot a grassroots innovation that can help blind and visually impaired children learn through play using LEGO® bricks. Learning Braille is said to be crucial for blind and visually impaired children as it allows them to develop a variety of essential life skills ensuring they experience intellectual freedom, independence and equal access to education and work. Showing how the simplest of technologies can improve childrens lives.
What is braille and where did it come from?
Louis Braille (4 January 1809 to 6 January 1852) was from a small town called Coupvray in France. When Louis was three, he was playing with some tools trying to make holes in a piece of leather with an awl. While pressing down to drive the point in, the tool slipped and struck him in one eye.No treatment could have saved the damaged eye and the wound became infected, spreading to the other eye. By the time Louis was five, he was completely blind in both eyes.
In 1821, Braille learned of a communication system devised by Captain Charles Barbier of the French Army. Barbier shared his invention of “night writing” which was a code of dots and dashes into thick paper. These impressions could be interpreted by the touch of a finger and letting soldiers communicate on the battlefield without needing to speak or have light.
The Captain’s system was a little too complicated but Braille was inspired to come up with a system of his own. By the time Braille was 15 years old, he had trimmed Barbier’s 12 dots into six and had found 63 ways to use a six-dot cell in an area no larger than a fingertip.
Braille published his own system in 1829 and added symbols for both mathematics and music. He had a number of publications about Braille and by 1833 he was offered a full professorship where he taught history, geometry and algebra. Braille’s ear for music enabled him to become an accomplished cellist and organist.
And thus Braille was invented.
The diversity of this new concept of play and learn LEGO will be providing an inclusive way to learn and interact for the blind, visually impaired and sighted, offering a fun and playful way to engage, interact and learn together.
The LEGO Foundation aims to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow; a mission that it shares with the LEGO Group. The LEGO Foundation is dedicated to building a future where learning through play empowers children to become creative, engaged, lifelong learners. Its work is about re-defining play and re-imagining learning. In collaboration with thought leaders, influencers, educators and parents the LEGO Foundation aims to equip, inspire and activate champions for play.
LEGO Braille Bricks will be moulded with the same number of studs used for individual letters and numbers in the Braille alphabet, while remaining fully compatible with the LEGO System in Play. To ensure the tool is inclusive allowing sighted teachers, students and family members to interact on equal terms, each brick will also feature a printed letter or character. This ingenious combination brings a whole new and playful approach to get blind and visually impaired children interested in learning Braille, enabling them to develop a breadth of skills needed to thrive and succeed in a fast-paced world.
“Blind and visually impaired children have dreams and aspirations for their future just as sighted children” said John Goodwin, CEO of the LEGO Foundation. “They have the same desire and need to explore the world and socialise through play, but often face involuntary isolation as a consequence of exclusion from activities. In the LEGO Foundation, we believe children learn best through play and in turn develop the breadth of skills, such as creativity, collaboration and communication, that they need in the post 4th Industrial Revolution. With this project, we are bringing a playful and inclusive approach to learning Braille to children. I hope children, parents, caregivers, teachers and practitioners worldwide will be as excited as we are, and we can’t wait to see the positive impact.”
The product is currently being tested in Danish, Norwegian, English and Portuguese, while German, Spanish and French will be tested in Q3 2019. The final LEGO Braille Bricks kit is expected to launch in 2020 and will be distributed free of charge to select institutions through participating partner networks in the markets where testing is being carried out with partners. It will contain approximately 250 LEGO Braille Bricks covering the full alphabet, numbers 0-9, select math symbols and inspiration for teaching and interactive games.
Want to keep your eye on the launch head here; https://www.legobraillebricks.com/
