AFB Blog

"Braille is knowledge, and knowledge is power." - Louis Braille Louis Braille, the inventor of braille, was born two hundred and seven years ago on January 4, 1809. In his honor, we've gathered 16 braille resources in celebration of World Braille Day 2016! What is braille, anyway? It’s not a language, but a system of raised dots that can be read with the fingers by people who are blind or who have low vision. Braille is a code by which many languages—such as English, Spanish, Arabic…

Two hundred and seven years ago, on January 4th, 1809, Louis Braille was born in Coupvray, France. His invention of a system of raised dots representing letters, numbers and punctuation revolutionized the way blind people read and write and opened a wealth of knowledge to visually impaired audiences. In 1952, one hundred years after his death, Braille's body — with the exception of his hands — was removed from his home town to the Pantheon in Paris. Helen Keller was asked to give the speech on…

Enjoy the only known recording of Anne Sullivan Macy’s voice. Here Annie explains how she taught Helen to speak. This is one of a handful of clips recently re-mastered and digitized, and is part of the American Foundation for the Blind’s (AFB) big push to digitize Helen Keller’s entire archival collection and make it fully accessible to both blind and hearing impaired audiences: Happy Holidays from AFB! Transcript Male audio description: Words appear in a black and white "Fox Movietone…

Ike Claus I was delighted to join the staff at the Atlanta Center for the Visually Impaired BEGIN Program (Babies Early Growth Intervention Network) for their infants and toddlers holiday program last Saturday. We sang songs, ate way too many cookies, and I was honored to don the big guy’s red suit (the beard is my own!). Each child had the opportunity to have their photos taken with Santa. Children this young and some with additional disabilities often do not receive a friendly welcome at…

Helen Keller’s book "Let Us Have Faith" was published in 1940. Her words are a timely reminder of the importance of vigilance in the face of prejudice and bigotry. Helen was acutely aware of the dangers of political and social discrimination. Seven years earlier, in 1933, her book entitled "How I became a socialist" was burned by Nazi youth during the book burning frenzy that took place in Germany. The following excerpt from "Let Us Have Faith" counsels us to be active participants in…

Below is an excerpt from Helen Keller’s essay Three Days to See. Enjoy her beautiful and wise words. ...Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die to-morrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with gentleness, a vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when times stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come… …Now and then I…

The American Foundation for the Blind is delighted to share this movie clip of Helen Keller in her home in Westport, Connecticut. Filmed in the 1950s, it beautifully captures Helen’s instinctive appreciation of the world around her and her wholehearted joy of living. This is one of 10 clips that will be uploaded to the newly digitized Helen Keller Archival Collection. These clips, newly cleaned, are now also described and captioned for blind and hearing impaired viewers. Transcript Male…

Helen Keller and Polly Thomson with amputees in wheelchairs at McCloskey General Hospital, Temple, Texas, 1944 On Veterans Day, the American Foundation for the Blind honors all those who have fought in America's wars. Helen Keller was, and remains, a source of inspiration and solace for so many. During her lifetime thousands of veterans were inspired by her courage. We are particularly proud of the role Helen Keller played as a leading advocate for the men injured and maimed during World…

Meet Poonam Agrawal, 16, a junior at Cypress Ridge High School in Houston, Texas. At a recent community health fair, Poonam printed out some information from AFB’s website and set up a collection box to encourage donations. “I’m so glad to advocate for AFB and raise awareness about vision loss and all that AFB does to help people with blindness and low vision,” she said. Poonam found out about AFB when she was researching Helen Keller, who has been a life-long inspiration. Keller’s forty-…