Within nearly 30,000 names there are 319 special ones from Te Whatu Ora Southern staff who are helping a Dunedin woman reach her goal of writing One Million Names in Braille. Medical transcriptionist Sarah Robinson, who works at Older People’s Health in Dunedin, hopes more staff will become part of this historic project in the future. Sarah is friends with Julie Woods (who has been blind for more than 20 years) and is behind One Million Names in Braille.
Starting back in 2017, Julie’s project was inspired by an artist and mental health nurse Francis Salole’s quest to paint one million paintings to raise mental health awareness. Sarah is one of the volunteers helping Julie, and as of April 2023, about 27,051 names are now in braille.
Medical transcriptionist Sarah Robinson, left, is helping her friend Julie Woods capture One Million Names in Braille.
“I started with my family and friends and work colleagues and then I started putting a message on List It (internal intranet) and staff and their families came forward to be a part of it.”
Staff who receive their cards are “over the moon” to get them, Sarah says.
First names are put onto business cards that also have the complete Braille Alphabet on the back of them.
Famous names include Shawn Wallace from the television show The Chase, Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and the Otago Highlanders.
Julie says the most common emotion she receives when she writes the names for people is happiness. The project is also raising awareness of the blind community in New Zealand and the importance of braille as a literacy tool for the blind, Julie says.
“Writing someone’s name in braille increases the connection I and the volunteer braille producers have with that person. Some people find blindness scary, so by writing their name in braille it acts as a bridge between the sighted and the blind.
“Helen Keller once said, ‘We are never really happy until we try to brighten the lives of others’.
“I hope that Sarah, the other volunteer braille producers and myself make the lives of 1 million people happy!”
There is no deadline for the project to be completed but with more awareness of it, it is hoped more names will be gathered.
Image description: Julie Woods seated from One Million Names in Braille. Sarah Robinson, a medical transcriptionist who works at Older People’s Health in Dunedin is standing next to her. They are both smiling at the camera in an indoor setting. Sarah is wearing a maroon sweater with long curly blonde hair. Julie has shoulder-length blonde hair and wearing a black t-shirt with a few pink dots and the words " 1 Million Names in Braille" on the front.
