Being able to see is something a lot of people take advantage of. It’s not until you lose your sight that you appreciate just how important it is to your everyday life. Thankfully, companies like LEGO are taking steps to ensure that these people aren’t at a disadvantage. For any visually impaired kids (or children at heart), the toy manufacturer has a new line of bricks which will help them learn Braille so they can still live life to the full.
Fun For Everyone
Most people played with LEGO growing up. This toy offers a great way to express your creativity and create things in your spare time. Now, thanks to the Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind, LEGO will be entertaining more children than ever with its upcoming Braille Bricks project. 2020 will see the release of a set that contains bricks with studs arranged in the design of the Braille alphabet.
A Growing Demand
This idea first came about nearly a decade ago when the Danish Association of the Blind brought it up with LEGO. After the Dorina Nowill Foundation suggested a similar thing several years later, it became clear that demand for the product was growing. Now, prototypes of the bricks are being tested across the world, with a major release scheduled for sometime next year.
Bringing Back Braille
People have praised LEGO’s involvement in this, and they’re hopeful that it will inspire more people to learn Braille. Due to the rise of things like audiobooks, a lot of younger people with visual impairments have put off learning how to read. However, that may change once there are toys like LEGO which specifically cater to people who can’t see correctly. That will work well in these kids favor because knowing Braille typically makes children more independent and likelier to find gainful employment when they’re older.
The Importance Of Education
As well as teaching kids the alphabet, these bricks will also feature numbers and mathematical symbols so that people can get the full experience. What’s more, LEGO will be making many of their sets available for free so that more children can learn how to read Braille without any hassle. They’re putting education ahead of financial gain, and other companies would do well to follow their lead.
It’s good to see that toys like LEGO can still change people’s lives, even though they’ve been around for years now.