With regard to World Braille Day, which is commemorated in January, Jehovah’s Witnesses since 1912 have published Bible publications for blind people. They have done it in 50 languages in braille, among these publications is the Bible.
The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures in braille format is available in several languages, including English, German, Italian, Korean, Spanish, and Ukrainian. It is noteworthy that producing a complete braille Bible takes up to 8 hours, as it consists of 18 to 28 volumes and occupies at least 2 meters (6 feet) of shelf space.
Jehovah’s Witnesses in their work to help visually impaired people get closer to God and improve their quality of life, have edited and distributed free publications in the following formats:
• Audio files on the website www.jw.org
• Braille.
• Electronic files for braille note takers (portable electronic devices that have a speech synthesizer and a braille display that is updated).
• Electronic files for screen readers (computer programs that audibly read everything on the monitor).
In addition, they have created a computer program capable of transcribing information into the braille system of various languages. A conversion table is used that contains the characters in the native language and their Braille equivalents. Also, it has the ability to format the publication to make it easier for blind people to read. With this program it is possible to produce publications like the Bible in practically any language that has a braille system, including those that do not use the Latin alphabet.
Regarding the reading, one Jehovah’s Witness who is blind expressed: “It is very difficult to remember information when someone reads it to you. When you read with your fingers it’s different because you feel what you read and it comes directly to your mind, so it’s easier to remember later. It is very special to be able to read for yourself.”
According to the World Health Organization, at least 2 billion people in the world live with some type of visual impairment. In Colombia, the average is 2 million.
According to the United Nations Program, the pandemic has highlighted the fundamental importance of producing essential information in accessible formats, including Braille and audible formats.
1 comment
This is a templated puff story from a religious cult. One of the purposes of the stories is to push down factual but negative news about Jehovah’s Witnesses and their organization Watchtower in news feeds. I recommend you Google “Jehovah’s Witnesses abuse” Or even just “Jehovah’s Witnesses” in the news feed. They are experiencing the coming to light of a CSA cover up the scale of the Catholic Church.