French educator Louis Braille developed a tactile reading and writing system in 1824 for blind and visually impaired people. Until now, raised dot codes used globally to read and write make up the braille system.
First of all, what is Braile?
Braille is a way for blind people to read and write by touching. The raised dots on the paper represent the letters of the alphabet. It also has the same meanings for punctuation marks and groups of letters shown by symbols.
Most importantly, braille is a way for blind people to live. It lets blind people read a lot of different kinds of things, like financial statements, restaurant menus, and readings for fun or learning.
Also essential are the rules, contracts, insurance policies, directories, and cookbooks that adults use every day. People who are blind can also enjoy hobbies and learn about other cultures by using braille to read things like hymnals, playing cards, board games, and music scores.
The Story of Louis Braille: Inventor of the Braille Code
A Frenchman named Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1809, in Coupvray. He was the third of four children. Louis was three years old when his parents, Monique and Simon-Rene Braille, were in their workshop making harnesses and saddles. This is where his story began. Louis took an awl out of the workshop to play with it, but he hurt one of his eyes with it by accident. By the time she was 5, she was completely blind because both eyes got infected.
Louis began going to the village school when he was seven years old. He learned by listening. But he was very badly hurt because he couldn’t read or write. His family finally found out about a school in Paris where blind boys could go to school and learn a trade. Even though it hurt, they had to send their son to school in the city because it was the only way for him to have a good future.
French Army Officer Charles Barbier visited the students while they were there and showed them a 12-dot cryptography system he made for soldiers to use for talking to each other on the battlefield at night.
Between the ages of 12 and 15, Louis carefully studied Officer Barbier’s system. He then came up with a simpler system that used only a six-dot code so that blind people could read and feel with their index finger.
The braille system was first shown to Louis’s friends and family in 1824. Because of this, Louis and his classmates would no longer have to learn slowly by following big raised letters and numbers. The director of the institute initially supported Braille; however, in 1840, the new director of the school prohibited its use due to his concern that the use of braille would eliminate the necessity for sighted teachers and enable all blind individuals to read.
Louis Braille kept going to school and became a great musician, writer, researcher, inventor, and teacher at the National Institute for Blind Youth, where he had been a student. For the rest of his life, he taught math, geography, music, and French grammar at the school. He got paid a small amount and had a place to stay at the school. The first braille book he wrote was called Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them. It came out when he was 20 years old.
Later, Louis Braille had to stop teaching because he had tuberculosis. He died on January 6, 1852, at the age of 43.
Most teachers didn’t use Braille for a long time after Louis died, but it is now seen as a revolutionary invention and is used all over the world for languages, symbols, numbers, math, and music, all using the six-dot combinations.
In 2009, Louis Braille’s bicentennial was celebrated all over the world. He is still seen as a genius, and many people celebrate his birthday every January 4th.
Students at ICOE who are blind or have low vision can now benefit from the invention of braille.
Timeline of Advancements in Braille
- 1869 – We see the introduction of braille code.
- 1932 – Braille code was adopted as the standard English code.
- 1932 to the late 1960s – Most students with blindness were taught to read and write braille.
- 1973 – The Rehabilitation Act allowed students with a visual impairment to attend local public schools. Braille was not taught to all students in public schools.
- 1975 – Congress passed public law 94-142 called The Education of All Handicap Children Act, which includes the Free and Appropriate Education Act (FAPE).
- 1991 – The National Literacy Act defines “literacy” as “an individual’s ability to read, write, and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society to achieve one’s goals and develop one’s knowledge and potential.”
- 1995 to 1996 – Approximately 54,000 students were legally blind, but only around 4,700 students were taught braille in public schools.
- 1997 – A revision to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) states: “(iii) in the case of a child who is blind or visually impaired, provide for instruction in Braille and the use of Braille unless the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team determines, after an evaluation of the child’s reading and writing skills, needs, and appropriate reading and writing media (including an evaluation of the child’s future needs for instruction in Braille or the use of Braille), that instruction in Braille or the use of Braille is not appropriate for the child.” 20 U.S.C. 1414(d)(3)(B)(iii).
- 1997 – The IEP teams rarely determined braille as the appropriate pathway to blind literacy. This was mainly due to the lack of teachers able to teach braille writing and reading.
- 1999 – Braille instruction was proposed as the pathway to national literacy for students who are blind. Many contested the move as a violation of students’ IEP.
Legacy of Braille Benefits Millions
Millions of blind people have better lives because of Louis Braille’s work. Blind people from all over the world now use Braille every day because of this. Today, people all over the world transcribe braille code into many languages.
Louis Braille would be very proud to know that his work has helped a huge number of people learn to read and write over the years. That way, blind people can enjoy everything that print has to offer just like everyone else. It gives them a lot of confidence and helps them do well in school and in their careers. Over the last 100 years, many groups have been formed to change and standardize the braille code.