“I Feel Like an Alien”: Visually Impaired Students Reveal Challenges on World Braille Day

By Njukang Princeley, Cameroon

Visually impaired Africans have turned out massively to commemorate World Braille Day in different corners of the continent, especially in blind schools. During the commemoration on Saturday, January 4, 2025, blind Africans, like most of their peers worldwide, took turns to reflect on the contribution of Braille to their lives.

Diana Wirndzerem, a visually impaired student in Cameroon’s National School of Local Administration, says Braille has been like a savior to her for the last 20 years. Born blind in a country that makes little room for persons with disabilities, Diana says she was more than lucky to be spotted by the supervisor of SAJOCA, a specialized school for the training and rehabilitation of blind persons based in Cameroon’s Northwest region, at an early age. “I don’t know what would have become of me. Maybe I would have been somewhere being spoon-fed, deprived of all the things I’ve experienced so far in the name of blind people cannot do this or that,” she told DNA. “I was introduced to Braille at the age of six, and it completely changed my life. I love Braille so much,” she added.
World Braille Day, which was instituted by the United Nations in 2019, is observed every January 4th to raise awareness of the importance of Braille as a means of communication in the full realization of the human rights for blind and partially sighted people. According to the UN, Braille is essential in the context of education, freedom of expression and opinion, as well as social inclusion, as reflected in article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This year’s day was themed celebrating accessibility and inclusion for the visually impaired.

For many blind Africans, the absence of Braille would have meant an uneventful life. “It was only after learning Braille that I became exposed to the world of possibilities. I realized that I had been lied to, that there was indeed nothing I couldn’t do if I decided to,” Fraisnel Bayuga, a final year Political Science Student in the University of Buea, said in an interview last year.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 5.9 million people in Africa are blind, and 20.4 million have low vision. This makes up about 15.3% of the world’s blind population. Yet, a majority of this population has no access to Braille, the tactile raised dot system developed by Louis Braille in the 19th century to enable blind persons read and write. In Cameroon, where over 600000 citizens are blind or low vision, the Cameroon Human Rights Commission estimates that less than 2000 are currently able to use Braille. Experts attribute this low figure to the systemic barriers that prevent persons with disabilities in the country from fully accessing education, such as stigma, neglect and the snail implementation of policies.
Students with visual impairment in Cameroon have frequently decried the absence of didactic materials in accessible formats like Braille. “We don’t have textbooks in braille. “So when a teacher gives us an assignment to read a poem or to analyze a passage from a novel, it’s so difficult for me… and when I am in class and everybody is reading from their textbook, I feel like an alien,” Elvira Nchenze, a High School student, lamented.
Furthermore, a shortage of trained braille teachers further limits the availability of quality education for visually impaired students. However, organizations like Hope Social Union for the Visually Impaired (HSUVI) Bamenda, are working to help interested persons, including teachers from all levels of education master Braille. “We decided to open up our center to sighted persons too, and most of them who have come here to learn have gone on to secure jobs in various educational establishments,” Peter Tonaine, HSUVI’s president, told DNA. He said their Braille literacy program which is helping many visually impaired persons across the region to learn how to read and write Braille, has also become a vital partner in the education of the blind, as they are regularly called in to transcribe materials such as books, textbooks, and examinations. “Some of our members complain about the cumbersome nature of Braille. You know, a single print page in Braille is roughly 3-5 pages, making the material too heavy to carry about. But the good thing is they are using it, either for education, or for business,” he said.
A lady supervises HSUVI Braille Learners[/caption
] The efforts of organizations like HSUVI are shortchanged by numerous difficulties. “We don’t have upgraded Braille equipment in our office. So we are still using the traditional Braille tools like the slate and stylus. Also, Braille materials like papers are scarce and expensive,” Peter highlighted.
In 2021, the government of Cameroon ratified the Marrakesh Treaty, an international agreement that aims to make it easier to access published works for people who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled: the ratification of this treaty, which removes legal barriers to copying books and other copyright-protected works into accessible formats, such as Braille and digital audio, let many blind Cameroonians to believe that efforts to transcribe works into Braille will be intensified. But it remains just that – hope.