Did you know that Lego has a charitable arm called the Lego Foundation? Lots of people don’t, but they’ve been busy coming up with lots of good ideas for how the little plastic bricks can help the world.
One of those ideas is Braille Bricks: Lego bricks where the studs on top represent different letters in braille, helping blind children to learn the writing system.
Lego announced Braille Bricks last year, but according to BrickFanatics, they’ve been delayed a bit:
“We are still in the process of securing national partners for our select pilot markets. In 2021 the Braille Bricks and curriculum will begin to be distributed to schools and educators working with children who are blind. We are thrilled to see excitement from the AFOL [Adult Fans Of Lego] community on Braille Bricks and how the AFOL community supports our ambition of learning through play for all.”
The idea has been a long time in the making:
“The Danish Association of the Blind first pitched the idea to the LEGO Foundation in 2011, before the Brazilian-based Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind did so again in 2017. Since then, both those organisations ” along with others from the UK and Norway ” have been involved in shaping and testing the concept.”
Back in 2016, an ad agency produced some Braille Bricks for the aforementioned Dorina Nowill Foundation, releasing the design under a Creative Commons license so people could make their own. Next year, we’ll finally be able to get official ones from Lego itself.
This post originally appeared on Gizmodo UK, which is gobbling up the news in a different timezone.