Mom creates braille patches for clothes to help visually impaired people

Gracie Benedith-Cane’s son, Wani, was less than one year old, when he was diagnosed with septo-optic nerve dysplasia, a rare congenital malformation that can feature underdevelopment of the optic nerve, pituitary gland dysfunction, and absence of the septum pellucidum (a midline part of the brain).

“I realised something was going on with his eyes when he was two months,” she said, “I took him to the doctor, and he told me that he wasn’t going to have 100 percent of his vision.

Due to the disease, Wani is significantly visually impaired, being able to see only a little out of the corners of his eyes.

As Wani grew up and started dressing himself in the morning, Gracie noticed that he still needed to ask for help.

That is when she invented braille patches for her son’s clothing. The patches are adhered to the outside side of clothes, and include cues about direction.

“The patches, they're adhesive and you could stick them to clothes. And it has directional cues such as back, left, and right,” said Wani. “if the Braille's on the inside that means it's inside-out and if it's on the outside, then it means it's fine.”

The braille patches helped Wani dress more efficiently and independently.

Now Wani is 12-years-old, and is a confident, warm-hearted and smart boy.

Gracie has now become an entrepreneur, by starting the company Braille Code Inc, and sells the patches so that others can also benefit from her innovation.

Adapted from: https://on.today.com/2NxrEoC

More info: https://braillecodebrands.com