Louis Braille Was Not Blind From Birth, Went To Sports Eyes, Then Grew Up To Give New Sight To The Blind Discuss

Blind People Prove Their Worth Through Braille Script

Today, blind people are making significant strides in both government and private companies alike, from arts to commerce and management studies, through to employment or self-employment opportunities. A special script known as Braille allows them to read and write; prior to its development it would have been much more challenging for them.

Louis Braille was born in 1809 AD

This script honors French educator Dan Louis Braille Key, born this day in 1809 AD. Louis Braille created a script that became an instrument to bring education into blind lives – hence its name; now known as Braille after him.

How Louis Braille Lost His Sight

Louis Braille wasn’t born blind; an incident during his childhood left him visually impaired for life. Louis was 3 years old at the time when an incident took place in his father’s shop producing horse riding products; an incident of this sort left Louis visually impaired for life.

Louis Braille could not afford toys, so instead spent his time playing with manufactured goods in his father’s shop. One day while there, while playing, Louis was suddenly struck in the eye with something sharp. Louis Braille’s eyes began bleeding profusely and treatment was too costly for his family.

They tried bandaging it in hopes it would work, but it failed miserably. Over time, an infection spread from one eye to the other one and Louis Braille started losing vision in both. By age three and eight he had permanent damage done to both eyes.

Will to Achieve Something Great in Life

Louis Braille never gave up despite all his life’s obstacles; instead he resolved to do something great through study. When his family noticed his passion for reading, they sent him to Ballantine, an influential priest in France who recognized Louis’ talent and admitted him into the Royal Institute for the Blind in 1819.

Louis Braille realized during his studies that blind children all faced similar difficulties. His goal was to alleviate them all from this burdensome burden.

Design of Braille Script

Louis Braille learned at 12 years old that retired Army Captain Charles Barber had created a special code for World War II soldiers who had lost an eye, which allowed them to read words engraved onto wooden planes by shaking.

Once Louis learned about it, he told his priest about this script and requested an appointment with Captain Barber so he could propose some revisions to it.

Louis was stunned to hear Louis’ proposal and promptly implemented all corrections. Later, Louis made further significant modifications to the Braille code; and finally in 1829 invented Braille himself with six points; today this script bears his name and has provided education throughout the globe.