BOTSWANA COUNCIL FOR THE DISABLED

INTERNATIONAL WEEK OFF THE DEAF
2023-09-19 - 2023-09-25
What Is International Week of The Deaf?
International Week of the Deaf is an initiative of the WFD and was first launched in 1958 in Rome, Italy. It is celebrated annually by the global Deaf Community on the last week of September each year to commemorate the same month the first World Congress of the WFD was held. International Week of the Deaf is celebrated through various activities by the respective Deaf Communities worldwide.

Why is the International Week of the Deaf Important?

International Week of the Deaf is the only week in a year that sees highly concerted global advocacy to raise awareness about the Deaf Community on different levels. It is about gathering together, becoming united, and showing that unity to the rest of the world.
International Week of the Deaf strives to promote the human rights of deaf people and highlight topics that merit attention.
International Week of the Deaf aims to call for unity from the rest of the world through consistent, coordinated and widespread mobilisation to ensure that the campaigns are visible through sufficient media coverage.

Sources: https://wfdeaf.org/get-involved/wfd-events/international-week-deaf/

WORLD BRAILLE DAY
2024-01-04
World Braille Day on January 4 is celebrated to honour the birth of Braille’s inventor, Louis Braille. Braille’s gift to the world has brightened the lives of millions of people around the world who are blind or visually impaired, and they benefit from his work every day. The day also acknowledges that those with visual impairments deserve the same standard of human rights as everyone else.
History of World Braille Day
The term ‘Braille ‘was dabbed after its creator, Louis Braille was a French man who lost his eyesight as a child when he accidently stabbed himself in the eye with his father’s awl. From the age of 10 he spent time at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in France, where he formulated and perfected the system of raised dots that eventually became known as Braille.
Braille completed his work, developing a code based on six dots, making it possible for a fingertip to feel the entire cell unit with one touch and moving quickly from one cell to the next. Eventually, Braille slowly came to be accepted throughout the world as the main form of written information for Blind people. Unfortunately, Braille didn’t have the opportunity to see how useful his invention had become. He passed away in 1852, two years before the Royal Institute began teaching Braille.
Braille’s marvellous aid that opened up a world accessibility to the blind and visually impaired was recognized by the United Nations general Assembly (UNGA). In November 2018, January 4th was declared World Braile Day. The first-ever World Braille Day was commemorated the following year and it was celebrated as an international holiday.

WHITE CANE SAFETY DAY
2024-11-15 06:30 - 14:00 UTC | Molepolole, Kgosing Kgotla, Molepolole, Botswana
