World Braille Day, marked on January 4th honors Louis Braille who is recognized as the ‘Father of Literacy for the Blind’. Born on January 4th 1809, he was blinded in one eye at the age of three while playing with a sharp tool in his father’s shop. Despite the best attempts made to save his sight, the infection from the injury spread to his other eye and he lost vision in both eyes rendering him blind. He was then sent to the School of Blind in Paris where he was inspired by a retired artillery officer in Napolean’s army, Charles Barbier. Barbier’s method of note-taking system was based on using embossed dots to represent sounds. This system instilled curiosity in Louis about writing using dots which led to this French Educator and Inventor devising his own tactile system for the blind and visually impaired at the age of 15. At 20, he published the first ever Braille book- “Procedure for Writing Words, Music, and Plainsong in Dots”.
The tactile system, now known as Braille, uses six raised dots to form alphabetic and numerical symbols, therefore enabling the blind to read and write not only letters and numbers but also musical notes, scientific, and mathematical symbols. “This Braille system is not a language but a code that can be translated into many languages.” It is a blessing for the blind as they can pursue their academic interests and can communicate like people with normal vision. This also acknowledges that blind individuals should have the same rights and independence as everyone else. The work of Louis Braille proved- “Determination does triumph physical deprivation.” He transformed the way blind individuals experienced and engaged with the world.
