Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1806, in Coupvray, France. He is the inventor of the Braille system, which people with visual impairments use to read and write.
Did you know Braille wasn’t actually born blind?
He had perfect eyesight until the age of 3 when he accidentally injured himself while playing at his father’s leather workshop. His right eye got infected, which spread to his left eye as well since there were no existing antibiotics for his condition at that time. Eventually, he completely lost his eyesight.
Despite that, Braille persevered and achieved many things. At the age of 10, he got admitted to the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris. It was in this school he discovered his love for music. He learned to play the cello, piano, and organ and was even a member of the school’s orchestra.
At the age of 15, he developed a new system of reading and writing to help the blind. He was inspired by Charles Barbier’s story of how soldiers communicated with each other by punching holes and dashes on cardboard. Braille’s adaptation consisted of a six-dot code in various combinations, and this enabled people with visual impairments to read and write through the sense of touch.
Until today, he is recognized as one of the famous persons with a disability. His home has been turned into a museum known as Musée Louis Braille, and it showcases his life and works. The Kennedy Space Center and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) also renamed an asteroid in honor of Braille in 1999. The astronomers who discovered it actually called it 1992 KD, but they decided to rename it 9969 Braille because it was a rare-type asteroid that provided knowledge about the unseen cosmos. Similar to the asteroid, Braille provided a system that aided the blind in their everyday lives.
Braille’s story serves as an inspiration to people with disabilities. His life and experiences show that a person can still achieve great things despite their weakness; one just needs to find a new perspective in life to maximize their potential.
