Volunteers create collection of audio stories for blind children

By Ricardo Figueira & Imagem: Bruno Silva Published on 21/05/2026 - 9:31 GMT+2 Share Comments Share Facebook Twitter Flipboard Send Reddit Linkedin Messenger Telegram VK Bluesky Threads Whatsapp

The ‘Words that Embrace’ project is an initiative by writer Maria Saraiva de Menezes, born of a partnership between Alcântara Municipal Library in Lisbon and the Bengala Mágica association.

When Pedro, the son of Dídia Lourenço, lost his sight at six months old, his mother decided, together with other parents, to set up the association Bengala Mágica (source in Portuguese), which supports children and teenagers in the same situation. As reading and listening to stories is essential for any child, the association now has a partnership with the Alcântara José Dias Coelho Municipal Library in Lisbon, producing a series of videos of stories read by people from all walks of life.

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“Ever since I was a baby I’ve been asking for stories. As soon as I started speaking I was always asking my mother for a story, and she had to read to me,” says Pedro, now 10 and in Year 5 at school.

The range of braille books available in Portugal is very limited. As for books created from scratch for blind children, Dídia Lourenço says there are very few and that she “knows them all by heart”. Most braille editions of previously published books are produced by the Prof. Albuquerque e Castro Centre (source in Portuguese), part of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Porto, which distributes them to the rest of the country. In addition to braille, the audiobook has become popular in recent years as a way for blind and partially sighted people to access literature. Even so, the supply remains scarce.

Dídia Lourenço points out that today it is also possible to “see” book illustrations through touch and other senses, thanks to haptic illustration, which is common in children’s and young adult books aimed at blind and partially sighted readers in countries such as France, but still hard to find in Portugal.

“My first frustration was going to big bookshops wanting to buy accessible books and not being able to find them. All small children have access to the written word from the moment they are born. I felt that my son should also have the right to the word, in his own form of writing,” she says.

The idea came from writer Maria Saraiva de Menezes, who has become the patron and mentor of the programme “Words that Embrace”. It all started when she read the latest book by Lídia Jorge, Misericórdia. The story of the narrator’s mother, living in a care home and longing for the return of the volunteer who comes to read to the residents, made her want to do the same.

As well as giving readings in person at the Fundação Lar de Cegos (source in Portuguese), the author of História num Copo d'Água has also launched this project of video stories. Pedro is a fan and has a favourite: the story of O Macaco de Rabo Cortado (“The Monkey with the Cut-off Tail”), by António Torrado, read by the library’s coordinator, Ana Gomes dos Santos:

The collection of stories is constantly growing. So far, 61 people have volunteered to record these videos, 115 have been made, and 15 have already been published on the YouTube channels of the Lisbon Libraries (source in Portuguese) and Bengala Mágica (source in Portuguese).

“It’s been going well, because stories are being recorded every day, the collection keeps growing, it’s an inclusive activity. It’s for anyone, any child, anywhere in the Portuguese-speaking world, anywhere in the world. In any country people can listen to these stories,” says Saraiva de Menezes.

The next step is to create a similar programme for deaf children: “The project is becoming more and more inclusive. We are in talks on a partnership with the Portuguese Association of the Deaf (source in Portuguese), to set up a recruitment pool for Portuguese Sign Language,” says Ana Gomes dos Santos. The library coordinator also highlights the strong take-up of the programme, which, she recalls, is not just for blind and partially sighted readers, but for any child or, indeed, people of all ages who enjoy listening to a story.

Maria Saraiva de Menezes talks about “an energy that has proved infectious for our friends, people who would never have dreamt of doing this and who even thank us for having given them this opportunity, when really we should be thanking them for giving their time and their availability, their voice and their love, because that’s exactly what reading stories is about.”

Anyone can sign up to read a story of their choice in person at the Alcântara José Dias Coelho Municipal Library, or remotely, via this link (source in Portuguese).

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