The LEGO Foundation and the LEGO group have unveiled a new product – The Lego Braille Bricks. This ingenious product will help visually impaired and blind children to learn Braille in interesting ways.
These bricks are designed such that they have the same number of studs used for alphabets and numbers in the Braille language. The bricks will also have the letter or number printed on it to ensure that sighted people can work with them. So, sighted teachers, playmates, students, and family members can use them effectively while helping the visually impaired to learn Braille. These bricks will be “fully compatible” with the other Lego bricks.
This kit will contain 250 Lego Braille Bricks that would cover the entire alphabet, number from zero to nine, and a few mathematical symbols.
We’re super excited to introduce LEGO Braille Bricks – a new product from @TheLegoFoundation that will help blind and visually impaired children learn Braille in a playful and inclusive way! pic.twitter.com/48cqYEZ54t
— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) April 24, 2019
The Danish Association for the Blind had proposed the idea of Braille bricks to the Lego Group much earlier in 2011. Another proposal came much later in 2017 by Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind, which is based out of Brazil.
These bricks will be launched only in 2020 but are currently being tested in various languages such as English, Danish, Norwegian, and Portuguese. German, Spanish, and French will be tested later in the year.
What is the Lego Group?
Found in 1932, the Lego Group is a Denmark-based toy production company. It is one of the world’s largest toy manufacturers and its products are sold across 140 nations in the world. It is most renowned for its Lego bricks – interlocking plastic bricks that can be joined to be shaped into various forms.
Unfortunately, only 10 per cent of blind children are learning Braille today. This is in stark contrast to over 50 per cent that were doing so in the 1950s. We hope that such innovative toys will help promote the learning of Braille.
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