The History of Louis Braille
Louis Braille was a French teacher and musician who, as a teenager, created the six-dot reading and writing system that people who are blind still use around the world today.
Early life and the accident
Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1809, in Coupvray, a small town about 20 miles east of Paris. His father, Simon-René Braille, worked with leather and made harnesses for horses in a workshop near the family home.
When Louis was three years old, he was hurt while playing in that workshop: a sharp stitching awl struck one of his eyes. The injury became infected, the infection spread to his other eye, and by the age of five he was completely blind.
School in Paris
In 1819, at the age of ten, Louis left Coupvray to attend the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris. The school’s founder, Valentin Haüy, had developed books with large letters pressed into heavy paper so students could read them by touch. These raised-print books helped, but they were bulky and slow to read, and they gave students no practical way to write for themselves.
From twelve dots to six
In 1821, Louis learned about a system of raised dots devised by Charles Barbier, who had written to the school to introduce his method. Barbier’s code used cells of up to twelve dots arranged in two columns. Louis saw its potential and set to work making it simpler.
He reduced the cell to just six dots, arranged in two columns of three. In 1824, when he was fifteen, he presented his system to his fellow students for the first time. In 1829 he published his first book about it, Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plainsong by Means of Dots. From the very beginning, his system included music as well as words.
Teacher and musician
After finishing his studies, Louis stayed on at the institute as a teacher’s aide, and by 1833 he had become a full professor, teaching history, geometry and algebra. He was also an accomplished cellist and organist, and played the organ at churches in Paris.
Recognition after his death
Louis Braille died in Paris on January 6, 1852, two days after his 43rd birthday, from a respiratory illness long believed to be tuberculosis. Two years later, in 1854, the institute officially adopted his system, and over the following decades braille spread throughout Europe and around the world.
In 1952, on the 100th anniversary of his death, his remains were moved to the Panthéon in Paris, the resting place of many of France’s most honoured citizens. His hands were buried in Coupvray, near the home where he grew up.
Today, January 4 is observed by the United Nations as World Braille Day, celebrated since 2019 to raise awareness of braille as a means of communication for people who are blind or partially sighted.
Braille today
Nearly two centuries after Louis Braille published his system, braille still gives people who are blind direct, independent access to written information. Access-USA continues that work with braille transcription and braille business cards for organizations across North America.
Sources
Need information in braille?
Call toll free 1-800-263-2750 or email info@access-usa.com. Our consultants are happy to help with formats, quotes and production.