Bill Text: NY J00151 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Memorializing Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim January 4, 2023, as Braille Day in the State of New York

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-01-10 - ADOPTED [J00151 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-J00151-Introduced.html

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Senate Resolution No. 151

BY: Senator PARKER

        MEMORIALIZING  Governor  Kathy  Hochul to proclaim
        January 4, 2023, as Braille Day in the State of  New
        York

  WHEREAS,  It is the custom of this Legislative Body to recognize and
celebrate a day that is set aside to promote and raise public  awareness
and  attention  concerning  blindness and highlight the contributions of
those who have this disability; and

  WHEREAS, This Legislative Body hereby  memorializes  Governor  Kathy
Hochul  to  proclaim January 4, 2023, as Braille Day in the State of New
York, in conjunction with the observance of World Braille Day; and

  WHEREAS, World Braille Day is celebrated annually on January 4th  to
honor  the  birth  of Braille's inventor, Louis Braille; his gift to the
world has brightened the lives of millions of people  around  the  globe
who  are  blind  or  visually impaired, and acknowledges that those with
visual impairments deserve the same standard of human rights as everyone
else; and

  WHEREAS, Louis Braille was a Frenchman who lost his  eyesight  as  a
child  when he accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with his father's
awl; from the age of 10, he spent time at the Royal Institute for  Blind
Youth  in France, where he formulated and perfected the system of raised
dots which eventually became known as Braille; and

  WHEREAS, This extraordinary man developed a code based on cells with
six dots, making it possible for a fingertip to  feel  the  entire  cell
unit with one touch and moving quickly from one cell to the next; and

  WHEREAS,  Braille slowly came to be accepted throughout the world as
the main form of written information for  blind  people;  unfortunately,
Louis  did  not have the opportunity to see how useful his invention had
become; he passed  away  in  1952,  just  two  years  before  the  Royal
Institute began teaching Braille; and

  WHEREAS,  Louis Braille truly opened a world of accessibility to the
blind and visually impaired  and  was  subsequently  recognized  by  the
United  Nations  General  Assembly  (UNGA);  in  November  of  2018, his
birthday, January 4th, was declared World Braille Day and the first-ever
World  Braille  Day  was  commemorated  the   following   year   as   an
international holiday; and

  WHEREAS,  It is highly appropriate to publicize the needs, abilities
and potential of our fellow citizens who are blind or visually impaired,
and to recognize Louis Braille as a guiding example  of  courage,  hope,
determination and achievement for other individuals who are blind; and

  WHEREAS,  World  Braille Day is an opportunity to urge and encourage
the residents of New York to support programs which have  the  objective
to  empower  and  educate  people  from  the blind and visually impaired
community of New York; now, therefore, be it

  RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its  deliberations  to
memorialize  Governor  Kathy  Hochul  to  proclaim  January  4, 2023, as
Braille Day in the State of New York; and be it further

  RESOLVED,  That  a  copy  of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to The Honorable Kathy Hochul, Governor of the State of  New
York.