Louis Braille

Louis Braille (1809–1852) is famous for creating a special alphabet for the blind and visually impaired. His system – known as braille – has now been adapted for almost every language as a globally recognised code for the blind to read and write. Louis lost his sight as a child but gained a good education, and went on to give blind people the gift of independence and a chance to learn for themselves. Find out more about his story and enjoy using our printable resources below.

Fun Facts

• The braille system has 63 possible dot combinations to represent letters, numbers, punctuation marks and some complete words. For specialised subjects, such as maths and science, an 8-dot braille system has now been introduced which has 255 possible dot combinations!
• The original braille system excluded the letter ‘W’ because it was not commonly used in the French language.
• World Braille Day is celebrated every year on Louis’ birthday (4th January). In 2009, some countries introduced special coins to celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Louis Braille Quotes

“Live without seeing, but be what you are.”

“Braille is knowledge, and knowledge is power.”

“We must be treated as equals – and communication is the way we can bring this about.”

A Short Biography of Louis Braille

Louis Braille was born in Coupvray, a small town near Paris, France, in 1809. He was the youngest of four children born to Simon-René Braille and his wife Monique.

Louis’ father was a saddle maker, working in a family business that had spanned generations. Louis loved to play in his father’s workshop, but had a tragic accident at the age of three when a sharp tool used to pierce leather punctured his eye. With no antibiotics at the time, infection set in, and soon his other eye was also infected. By the age of five, Louis had lost his sight in both eyes.

At the time, blind people had very few prospects, but Louis’ parents were determined to give him the same opportunities as other children. They sent him to the local village school where he learnt through listening. He developed a very good memory!

At the age of ten, Louis won a scholarship to one of the world’s first schools for blind children – the National Institute of Blind Youth in Paris. He was taught to read using a system of raised letters and also learnt to play the piano, organ and cello.

When Louis was 13, a retired French army captain, Charles Barbier, visited the students. Barbier had introduced a type of code for soldiers on the battlefield to communicate in the darkness of night, and thought his system might be useful for the blind. His system, which he called ‘sonography’, used raised 12-dot combinations to represent sounds, but the soldiers found it difficult to learn. Inspired by this story, Louis set out to simplify the code. He felt sure he could improve on the system of embossed letters he was currently using to read and write, which was slow and cumbersome.

After two years of hard work using a stylus to punch holes into paper, Louis developed a much simpler code based on letters rather than sounds, and using just six dots. He asked his headmaster to read a newspaper article aloud, and Louis recorded the piece word-for-word, reciting it back to prove that his system worked. Louis was just 15 at the time.

In 1829, aged 20, Louis published his first book about the system, ‘Method of Writing Words’, which outlined how the blind could read with their fingertips. The system was popular with fellow students and was even demonstrated to King Louis-Philippe I of France. It was difficult, however, to get approval from teachers and board members at the school, perhaps because they feared the system might replace their teaching positions.
 
Louis began teaching at the Royal Institute of Blind Youth in his early twenties and also became the organist at a local church. Although the Institute published their first book in braille in 1837, Louis’ system didn’t spread beyond the school itself.

Louis died from tuberculosis in 1852, at the age of 43. Two years later, because of overwhelming demand from students, braille was adopted formally by the Institute. In 1878, the World Congress for the Blind voted to make it an international system of writing for the blind. It was some time, however, before US schools for the blind adopted braille (1916) and before it became a universal code for English-speaking countries (1932).

Today, braille can be used for writing text, music and even technical maths and science equations. A condensed version is also used for books, newspapers and magazines to shorten the length of the material. Special computer keyboards and screens can also accommodate braille, and translators can be used to generate and print documents. Braille also features on some board games and playing cards – there’s no limit to what a blind person can do!

Next time you’re in a public place have a look for some braille symbols – on lift buttons, public telephones, signposts, and even some restaurant menus. It will make you realise just how much this man has improved the quality of life of over 150 million people who continue to use braille around the world today.

Our Louis Braille Resources