Join us in celebrating 200 years of Braille at the Coupvray castle park on September 20, 2025. Visit Coupvray’s website for more information about the Braille Bicentennial.
Descriptive Transcript
Haben Girma, a woman in her thirties with medium dark skin, long black hair, and dancing hazel eyes speaks to the camera. She has a mic clipped to a teal top, and behind her is a blue wall.
Haben: Braille has a bicentennial coming up!
Photo: Haben’s fingers glide over a light-colored paper covered in dots.
Haben: Some people say Braille is old-fashioned, but you can tell them ink has been around for thousands of years; and last I checked sighted people are still writing with ink.
Braille is only 200 years young, and blind people all over the world—lawyers, programmers, teachers—continue to use Braille to access knowledge.
Photo: A tactile model of the Sydney Opera House has Braille on all four sides.
Haben: A lot of people ask me, “How did you go through Harvard Law School as a Deafblind person?” Braille!
The video zooms in on dots rapidly rising and falling on a Braille display.
Haben: It’s not the only thing, but it made a huge difference to let me have access to textbooks, exams, and conversations. Huge gratitude goes out to the teacher who invented Braille, Louis Braille.
Photo: A portrait of a man with light skin, short reddish-brown wavy hair, and a serene expression with his eyes closed. He wears a dark, formal coat over a high-collared top with buttons down the front.
Haben: So it’s named after him and he was born in Coupvray, France. It’s just outside of Paris and the celebration is gonna be there at his hometown. It’s September 20, 2025. It’s free and open to all. There will be accessible games, art, music. There will be educational panels. Help share the word.
Photo: Haben stretches a hand toward the top of a detailed, metal model of the Eiffel Tower rising about four feet high above a museum table.
Haben: I’m going to be there and I hope you will be, too.