US student invents Braille system for visually impaired Uyghurs

Radio Free Asia

5th February 2022

US student invents Braille system for visually impaired Uyghurs

By Jilil Kashgary

The development comes as a time when China is trying to eradicate use of the language within its borders.

A U.S. college student and a group of Uyghur researchers have created a Uyghur version of the Braille alphabet, at a time when the Chinese government is working to eradicate the language in its western Xinjiang region.

Harris Mowbray, 22, an undergraduate international relations student at the American University in Washington, D.C., has developed dozens of Braille alphabets, which allow visually impaired people to read and write through touch, for endangered and minority languages throughout the world.

Several of the alphabets have been officially adopted by their respective nations, Mowbray says on his website.

The language enthusiast and programmer has paved the way for visually impaired Uyghurs to read and write in the Uyghur language. Mowbray created the Braille script of the Uyghur language with the help of Uyghur scholars and linguists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the United States, Germany, and Turkey.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/braille-script-02042022174602.html