How Braille calendars are a lesson in accessibility for the visually impaired

In the basement of the Kerala Federation of the Blind (KFB) office near Law College Junction in Thiruvananthapuram, two large printing presses, made in Europe, take up most of the room. A roll of paper weighing about 200 kilograms and 140 grams per square meter (GSM) is placed on a white press, with metal clamps placed in front of it to hold the sheets in place. After a print command is given from a connected desktop computer, a sheet of paper slides into the machine with a clattering sound. In a few seconds, white sheets of paper come out of the other side of the press, without ink, but dotted with dots of various changes and combinations, arranged in an outline with 42 characters in each of the 27 lines on the page.

This is how KFB produces its Malayalam Braille calendars using its modern printing press. The calendars are available free of charge to the visually impaired across Kerala, in an effort to improve public accessibility in the Government since last year.

“Calendars are important for everyone. Even if you have calendars on your phone, hang them on the wall or keep them on your desk,” said Habeeb C, president of KFB.

Braille is an internationally accepted writing system for the visually impaired that uses raised dots to represent letters, numbers and other symbols. Dots arranged in a specific pattern of six cells were invented by Louis Braille in France in 1824. His birthday on January 4 has been celebrated as World Braille Day since 2019 by the United Nations General Assembly.

“Braille is just a skill for the visually impaired like writing and reading to others. Actually, we have to use your opportunities that’s why we chose something as basic as a calendar,” said Habeeb, who is also a professor at Farook College, Kozhikode.

Founded on September 11, 1967, the KFB, which currently has 3,980 members, has fought for their cause through many measures from training programs to legal negotiations for policy reform. Claimed to be one of the largest organizations providing services to the visually impaired in Asia, the Federation has been responsible for printing Braille books used in all 12 schools for visually impaired children in Kerala since the 1980s, Habeeb said.

The two machines in Thiruvananthapuram were purchased with the help of the National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Visual Disabilities and the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. They have another printing press in Kannur. During the 2024 national elections, the media recorded the voting papers of 1,02,963 visually impaired people in the State.

Inside the Braille machine in the KFB office | Photo Credit: Nainu Oommen

In 2023, Abdul Hakeem, general secretary of KFB, presented the idea of ​​a Braille calendar. Last year, about 700 people received the calendar from the Federation, including visually impaired people and schools.

A step forward

Abdul Hakeem, who has been visually impaired since birth, says a lot has changed in terms of the services available in the community. “When I was in school, we didn’t have books in Kerala. They used to be printed in Chennai. In Malayalam, English and Hindi, we used to write using a Braille device. Before, we used to make audio books using our own money.”

Habeeb says, “With assistive technology, we have been given opportunities to establish independence that we have been fighting for for a long time. A screen reader and character recognition software, helps us read, write and browse social media.” He adds, “As part of the Accessibility India campaign, some businesses have their menus in Braille.

However, Krishnan M, the vice president of the Federation, points out that there is still a lack of accessibility from coin mints to bus stops with a lack of touch and feel facilities. “In addition to Braille, there is something called structural accessibility,” referring to the need for public spaces with designs that are used by people with various disabilities.

“When we define disability, we see it as a limitation. However, the difficulty does not come from the disability; instead it’s because of how society is structured for the ‘powerful’,” Habeeb added.

Calendars can be obtained free of charge by writing to KFB at kfbtvm@gmail.com with a telephone number, Unique Disability ID number and address.