Writers Create Comic Book for the Blind in Mexico Newsivity
go to original January 19, 2015

Because comic books contain such visual story lines, artists and writers have had a difficult time translating them into braille, until recently when creators of a braille comic book in Mexico City have released their latest work.

Writer and illustrator Jorge Grajales and Bernardo Fernandez have created "Sensus: The Universe of His Eyes," which narrates the adventures of an astronaut who crash lands on a planet inhabited by creatures with no eyes. The astronaut loses his sight but aliens around him teach him how to see the world using other senses.

Funds from the sale of the 16-page comic book will help purchase spectacles for more than 1.5 million Mexican visually impaired schoolchildren.

Luis Eduardo, who was taught braille at the School of the International Committee for the Blind, a non-profit assistance organization in Mexico City, was excited to be able to read the comic: "It was very exciting, to know there is a comic book in braille, that there are new things for us, people with disabilities," he said.

Eduardo de Lao of the International Committee for the Blind said more books like this one are needed. "For me, it's very useful because it improves my skills in order to continue reading," he said.

Bernardo Fernandez, who is also visually impaired, said the purpose of the comic book was to raise awareness for the blind: "This is to create awareness among the population who do not have disabilities or visual disadvantages with regards to the challenges that people face every day. And, finally, it's for social action; the sale of each one of these copies will go towards spectacles, a set of glasses for low-income children with visual handicaps," he said.

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