Senate Resolution No. 151

BY: Senator PARKER

MEMORIALIZING Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim
January 4, 2023, as Braille Day in the State of New
York

WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body to recognize and
celebrate a day that is set aside to promote and raise public awareness
and attention concerning blindness and highlight the contributions of
those who have this disability; and

WHEREAS, This Legislative Body hereby memorializes Governor Kathy
Hochul to proclaim January 4, 2023, as Braille Day in the State of New
York, in conjunction with the observance of World Braille Day; and

WHEREAS, World Braille Day is celebrated annually on January 4th to
honor the birth of Braille's inventor, Louis Braille; his gift to the
world has brightened the lives of millions of people around the globe
who are blind or visually impaired, and acknowledges that those with
visual impairments deserve the same standard of human rights as everyone
else; and

WHEREAS, Louis Braille was a Frenchman who lost his eyesight as a
child when he accidentally 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 which eventually became known as Braille; and

WHEREAS, This extraordinary man developed a code based on cells with
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; and

WHEREAS, Braille slowly came to be accepted throughout the world as
the main form of written information for blind people; unfortunately,
Louis did not have the opportunity to see how useful his invention had
become; he passed away in 1952, just two years before the Royal
Institute began teaching Braille; and

WHEREAS, Louis Braille truly opened a world of accessibility to the
blind and visually impaired and was subsequently recognized by the
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA); in November of 2018, his
birthday, January 4th, was declared World Braille Day and the first-ever
World Braille Day was commemorated the following year as an
international holiday; and

WHEREAS, It is highly appropriate to publicize the needs, abilities
and potential of our fellow citizens who are blind or visually impaired,
and to recognize Louis Braille as a guiding example of courage, hope,
determination and achievement for other individuals who are blind; and

WHEREAS, World Braille Day is an opportunity to urge and encourage
the residents of New York to support programs which have the objective
to empower and educate people from the blind and visually impaired
community of New York; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim January 4, 2023, as
Braille Day in the State of New York; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to The Honorable Kathy Hochul, Governor of the State of New
York.