National Braille
Literacy Month
January was
chosen for this celebration because it is the birth month of Louis
Braille , the inventor of the system of raised dots that made
it possible for people who are blind to read and write for themselves with
independence and freedom. This celebration also raises awareness about the use
of Braille and its developing relationship with modern technology.
Louis Braille was born on January 4, 1809, in the village of Coupvray, near Paris,
France. He became blind at the age of three. He attended the local school until
1819, when he was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Institution for Blind
Youth. Soon after enrolling at the school, he started to develop his reading
code. In 1824, at the age of fifteen, he invented the braille system. In 1829,
he published his work in Method of Writing Words, Music and Plain songs by
Means of Dots for Use of the Blind.
The initial idea for a raised system of
dots came from a military code called "night writing" that was used
by French soldiers to communicate in darkness. It was based on a pattern twelve
dots arranged in a "cell." Unfortunately, the fingertip could not
feel the entire raised symbol with a single touch. Louis took this idea and
adapted it by reducing the number of dots to six so that the fingertip could
cover the entire cell with one touch.
Braille has undergone continuous
modification over the years, particularly through the addition of contractions
for frequently used words.
For decades,
the number of Braille users has been on the decline. While there are many
reasons for the decline of Braille, technology that converts text to speech has
been identified as a major factor. In an increasingly tech-savvy world, it has
been argued that Braille is becoming a less relevant tool for visually impaired
and blind individuals. However, over 150 million people continue to use Braille
around the world today for a multitude of reasons.
