World Braille Day: Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Louis Braille And Why We Celebrate This Day

Once Edmund Hillary said, “People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things”. Well, this quote of him reminds us of a handful of people who went beyond the limits and left a lasting impression on the humankind. As today, that is January 4, the world is honouring French educator Louis Braille, we would like to tell you his story and contribution to humanity. We are pretty sure that you would like to tell your kid about him as his story could be a great inspiration for your child. For the unversed, Louis was determined to find a way of reading and writing to bridge the gap between people who could see and those who are visually impaired.

Louis Braille’s story

In 1812, three-year-old Louis was playing with the tools of his father, who owned a well-known harness shop in a small village of Coupvray, France. In absence of his father, Louis thought of replicating his father by punching a hole in a piece of leather. He grabbed the tool and tried to push it through the leather. However, he didn’t have the strength like his father. So, he tried again, pushing harder. The tool slipped from his hand and flew up and into his left eye. As soon as Louis screamed with pain, his parents, two sisters and brother ran to help him.

At that time there was no hospital available nearby. His family then rushed to a woman, who used herbal medicines to treat injuries. But in the meantime, his injured eye became infected and the infection spread to his other eye. Later, Louis lost sight in both eyes and became permanently blind.

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From a very young age, Louis was a bright student. And, at the age of ten, he was enrolled in the Royal Institute for Blind Youth, Paris. But, his inability to see caused many problems for him. The few books made for the blind were heavy and hard to read. To cope up with this problem, Louis Braille spent his spare time at his school for the blind trying to improve on a night writing system that would help blind students read and write. After his constant efforts and experiments, in 1834, Louis demonstrated his dot alphabet at the Exhibition of Industry held in Paris. However, his invention wasn’t made available to other blind people.

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At the same time, he developed tuberculosis. As to fight with the disease, he took off from school. But, he kept working on the dot system. He improved the system and created a math textbook for blind students. Meanwhile, a director of the Royal Institute for Blind Youth didn’t allow the students to continue using Louis’ new alphabet as he was afraid that the students would become independent and would no longer need the teachers who could see. But, he continued working on writing books and music in his dot system. Later, Louis died in 1852.

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Two years after his death, the French government approved the dot system. The called it “Braille” after Louis’ last name. In 1878, the World Congress for the Blind voted to make Braille the system of reading and writing for all blind people worldwide.

To know more such kind stories that changed the world for a better, keep watching our space on ZEE5!