Braille - my guilty pleasure
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“There is a wonder in reading Braille that the sighted will never know: to touch words and have them touch you
back.”
– Jim Fiebig
Braille is not a different language, so what is Braille?
What is Braille, you ask? Braille is a code. It is a system of reading and writing specific language without the use of sight. Braille enables blind and vision impaired people to read through touch.
What are the Braille origins?
Though Louise Braille created the tactile reading and writing system we use today, he drew inspiration from a French army captain named Charles Barbier who created a nonverbal communication system so his officers could read battle commands during the night without the use of candlelight. In the late 1800s, Louise Braille refined Barbier’s system and created the foundation for today’s braille code.
About Louis Braille
At the age of 3, while playing in his father's shop, Louis injured his eye on a sharp tool, leaving him completely blind. Louis Braille began developing the Braille system in 1824 when he was only 15 years old. Braille, a student at the National Institute for Blind Youth in Paris, realized that Barbier’s system was hard to decode because the symbols were too large. By reducing the maximum number of dots per symbol from twelve to six, readers could feel the entire symbol under their fingertips without moving, and then move on to the next symbol quickly. Other students at Louis Braille’s school were quick to adopt the system. However, it took some time for it to be adopted more broadly.
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Some fun braille resources:
- Online Museum – The life and Legacy of Louise Braille
- See how your name looks like in Braille
- Braille Trivia Mania
Would you like to learn Braille but it seems overwhelming?
The ‘Crack the Code’ booklet is a great way to get you
started!