International Day of the Blind

Today there are more than 124 million people in the world who have lost the ability to see or were born blind to this world. For them, there are many technical devices that help them navigate in space: traffic lights that announce with a voice the time until the light turns green or red, special telephones. There are specially trained animals - guide dogs that help blind people overcome their daily journey, for example, from work to home or to the hospital. An interesting fact is that guide dogs helped people who lost their ability to see many hundreds of years ago. At first these were isolated cases, one of them was described in a poem from the 16th century, and at the beginning of the 20th century a special school was opened where dogs were trained to help the blind. Of course, we cannot completely make life easier for people without the ability to see, but progress does not stand still - medicine is developing today, and it is becoming more and more likely for people to retain their sight. People who have lost their sight today can read, write and perform other activities. Many people get jobs doing both physical and intellectual work. This was not always the case - the first school in the world for the blind appeared in 1784. It happened in Paris, thanks to a caring teacher - Valentin Gayuy. At his own expense, without financial support from the government, he opened a school in his own home - where at first 11 blind children studied. Later, Gayuy was invited to Russia, to St. Petersburg - where in 1807 an institute for blind people was opened using his methods. It must be said that Haüy developed an entire teaching methodology - starting with a special relief font: uncial, which was replaced in 1829 by Louis Braille. In addition, he produced special books and atlases, and later his students helped him with this - all so that blind adults and children could exist in our world as comfortably as possible. Every year, on November 13 - on this day Valentin Gayuy was born - the whole world celebrates the International Day of the Blind. On this day, in many countries around the world, public attention is drawn to the problems of these people, and presentations of various technological discoveries are held. They remember famous doctors who help fight eye diseases, teachers who teach people who have lost their sight to read and write. Of course, a lot has been done in more than 200 years, but it is still not possible to completely solve the problems of these people and adapt them to life. Not every city has schools for blind children, let alone small villages or regional centers. In lagging countries, blind people are left to their own devices. Think for a second - what it’s like not to see the world - flowers, the sun, the smile of a child, not to see the play of color, not to be able to enjoy painting, understand how these people live - they do not demand pity for themselves, they have learned to live with this peculiarity of theirs . Perhaps an example of such a life will reconcile someone with their own failures. Let us add that there are also days in the calendar that call on society not to forget about people with disabilities - these are International White Cane Day - celebrated on October 15, International Day of the Deaf (the last Sunday of September) and International Day of Persons with Disabilities - celebrated on December 3.