We couldn’t think of a better way to bring in the New Year than by celebrating World Braille Day! Every year on January 4th, the world celebrates Louis Braille for his creation of the code we have now come to know (and love!) as Braille. Braille is a code (not a language, as Bryan learned the hard way during his time trying to petition the University of Virginia to offer it as a language course) which consists of a combination of raised dots that allow blind and visually impaired people to read, write, and communicate in a world that oftentimes feels like it was not made for them. As two brothers with a degenerative eye disease, we began learning braille from an early age. Luckily, our progression has been slow and we have been able to navigate the world using some awesome accessible technology like text-to-speech, and ZOOM. But we never forget our foundations in Braille, and how it provided comfort and a “secret message” to share between us knowing that someday we might not have the luxury of another option.

To honor our visually impaired community, and to create conversations around the spectrum of visual impairment, we have incorporated Braille into every shirt sold at Two Blind Brothers.

We hope you will join us in celebrating this wonderful day by running your fingers over those beautiful raised dots wherever you might see them today -- they are in more places than you think! Reach out and tell us the coolest place you’ve noticed braille before.