Blind Visionary

Before Louis Braille created the tactile reading and writing system used around the world by people who are blind or low vision—and before he was blind himself—he was already punching holes. When he was a toddler, it was one of Louis’s favorite things to do in his father’s harness shop. But then his world went dark.

A pointed tool slipped and plunged into his right eye as he played in the shop at age 3. Both eyes became inflamed, and without modern medical knowledge, doctors could do nothing to rescue his sight.

The outlook for Louis seemed bleak. In the early 1800s, before blind people had the rights and resources they have today, he could have spent the rest of his life struggling to read and write. He could have needed a sighted person to help him along at every turn. Maybe he could have worked as a church organist or piano tuner if he was lucky. Yet Louis would go on to defy the odds, shatter barriers, and make the world a more accessible and inclusive place for people who are blind or low vision.

Before Louis Braille created the tactile reading and writing system used around the world by people who are blind or low vision, he was already punching holes. He was doing this before he was blind. When he was a toddler, punching holes was one of Louis’s favorite things to do in his father’s harness shop. But then his world went dark.

A pointed tool slipped and plunged into his right eye as he played in the shop at age 3. Both eyes became inflamed. Without modern medical knowledge, doctors could do nothing to rescue his sight.

The outlook for Louis seemed bleak. In the early 1800s, blind people didn’t have the rights and resources they have today. He could have spent the rest of his life struggling to read and write. He could have needed a sighted person to help him along at every turn. Maybe he could have worked as a church organist or piano tuner if he was lucky. Yet Louis would go on to defy the odds, shatter barriers, and make the world a more accessible and inclusive place for people who are blind or low vision.

Today, 200 years after a teenaged Louis Braille invented the raised-dot system for reading and writing, braille is everywhere: in museums and office buildings, and on elevator buttons, bathroom signs, pillboxes, and more. Braille codes are used in more than 133 languages around the world, from Arabic to Zulu.

“Without braille, a lot of people in the world would not be able to work,” says Brian Mac Donald, president and CEO of National Braille Press, an organization that supports braille literacy. “Braille is so much more powerful than people realize.”

Today, 200 years after a teenaged Louis Braille invented the raised-dot system for reading and writing, braille is everywhere. It is in museums and office buildings. It is on elevator buttons, bathroom signs, pillboxes, and more. Braille codes are used in more than 133 languages around the world, from Arabic to Zulu.

“Without braille, a lot of people in the world would not be able to work,” says Brian Mac Donald. He is president and CEO of National Braille Press, an organization that supports braille literacy. “Braille is so much more powerful than people realize.”

Born in 1809 in Coupvray, France, Louis spent his childhood sitting in on classes at the nearby school. While he excelled as a student by listening closely to the teacher’s lessons, he grew frustrated that he was unable to read or write.

At age 10, he received a scholarship to attend the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris, the first school for blind students in the world. There he grew passionate about music and learned to play the cello, piano, and organ.

At the time, “the idea that a blind person could be educated was really radical,” says Georgina Kleege, a former English and Disabilities Studies professor at the University of California Berkeley who has been blind since age 11. Though Louis wasn’t from a wealthy background, in getting a scholarship to the special school, “he was among the very privileged,” she adds.

Louis and his school peers learned to read by tracing embossed Roman letters with their fingers. It was a slow and difficult-to-master process, with cumbersome books that might require a full page for a single sentence.

“There are accounts of blind readers from very early on . . . who would read until their fingers bled,” says Northeastern University professor Sari Altschuler who co-directed an exhibit about the multisensory experiences of reading. “It was so difficult, and you had to press so hard on the pages.”

Wear and tear from pressing on the letters wore out the embossment, making it harder to read books as they got more use.

And writing was out of the question for many. It required memorizing the shapes of the Roman letters and replicating them with ink onto paper. Students who did manage to get that far couldn’t even read back the text they’d written without help.

Born in 1809 in Coupvray, France, Louis spent his childhood sitting in on classes at the nearby school. While he excelled as a student by listening closely to the teacher’s lessons, he grew frustrated that he was unable to read or write.

At age 10, he received a scholarship to attend the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris. It was the first school for blind students in the world. There he grew passionate about music and learned to play the cello, piano, and organ.

At the time, “the idea that a blind person could be educated was really radical,” says Georgina Kleege, a former English and Disabilities Studies professor at the University of California Berkeley. Kleege has been blind since age 11. Louis wasn’t from a wealthy background. In getting a scholarship to the special school, “he was among the very privileged,” she adds.

Louis and his school peers learned to read by tracing embossed Roman letters with their fingers. It was a slow and difficult-to-master process. The cumbersome books might require a full page for a single sentence.

“There are accounts of blind readers from very early on . . . who would read until their fingers bled,” says Northeastern University professor Sari Altschuler who co-directed an exhibit about the multisensory experiences of reading. “It was so difficult, and you had to press so hard on the pages.”

Wear and tear from pressing on the letters wore out the embossment. It made it harder to read books as they got more use.

And writing was out of the question for many. It required memorizing the shapes of the Roman letters. Then replicating them with ink onto paper. Students who did manage to get that far couldn’t even read back the text they’d written without help.

When Louis was 12, Charles Barbier paid his school a visit to talk about his “night writing” system. Barbier, a military veteran who served in the French army under Napoleon Bonaparte, watched soldiers get killed by enemy forces when they tried to read combat messages by lamplight after dark. He knew that developing a way to read in the pitch-black night, without the help of illumination, would save lives.

Barbier’s writing system used cells, each containing combinations of 12 raised dots that stood for a letter or sound. But each of the cells—which were two dots wide and six dots tall—were too large for human fingertips to feel with a single touch, so it took a while to read.

But Louis was inspired. Once again, as he did in his father’s saddle shop years earlier, he began punching holes. This time, into paper, and with a key objective in mind: to refine Barbier’s writing system into a code that was easier for the fingers to read.

Louis spent nearly three years perfecting his raised-dot transcription system. By 15, he’d created the earliest version of what we today know as braille, basing the system on cells with only six dots—two wide and three tall—small enough for a single fingertip to feel an entire cell with just one touch, and easy enough for people to write with.

“The writing part is huge,” says Kleege. “To be able to have the independence to record your own ideas and then to be able to read it yourself—to have that autonomous communication system is just huge.”

When Louis was 12, Charles Barbier paid his school a visit to talk about his “night writing” system. Barbier was a military veteran who served in the French army under Napoleon Bonaparte. He watched soldiers get killed by enemy forces when they tried to read combat messages by lamplight after dark. He knew that developing a way to read in the pitch-black night, without light, would save lives.

Barbier’s writing system used cells, each containing combinations of 12 raised dots that stood for a letter or sound. Each of the cells were two dots wide and six dots tall. They were too large for human fingertips to feel with a single touch, so it took a while to read.

But Louis was inspired. Once again, as he did in his father’s saddle shop years earlier, he began punching holes. This time into paper and with a key objective in mind. He wanted to refine Barbier’s writing system into a code that was easier for the fingers to read.

Louis spent nearly three years perfecting his raised-dot transcription system. By 15, he’d created the earliest version of what we today know as braille. He based the system on cells with only six dots—two wide and three tall—small enough for a single fingertip to feel an entire cell with just one touch. It was also easy enough for people to write with.

“The writing part is huge,” says Kleege. “To be able to have the independence to record your own ideas and then to be able to read it yourself—to have that autonomous communication system is just huge.”

Despite its revolutionary potential, braille didn’t take off overnight. It took decades for braille to be gradually adopted around the world. Initially, instructors knew Louis was onto something­­—but people worried about the ramifications of teaching blind and low vision kids a code that sighted people couldn’t automatically read. Would it further isolate and alienate the blind community?

As an adult, Louis Braille went on to become a teacher at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth. He developed a musical code for blind musicians, and in 1829, he published the book that introduced braille to the world: Procedure for Writing Words, Music, and Plainsong by Means of Dots.

He caught tuberculosis and spent the later part of his life sick and physically deteriorating. He died in Paris in 1852 at age 43, two years before France adopted braille as its official reading and writing system for people who are blind.

Braille has evolved over the years. It’s been adapted to just about every major known language, complete with symbols, numbers, and a series of special contractions that make it faster to read. People can use braille to read spreadsheets, play music, solve math equations, play board games, and more.

Today, with the help of technology, reading braille is more accessible and widespread than ever. Refreshable braille displays plugged into computers or electronic devices translate text on a screen into a series of pins that raise and lower to create words.

Despite its revolutionary potential, braille didn’t take off overnight. It took decades for braille to be gradually adopted around the world. Initially, instructors knew Louis was onto something. But people worried about the ramifications of teaching blind and low vision kids a code that sighted people couldn’t automatically read. Would it further isolate and alienate the blind community?

As an adult, Louis Braille went on to become a teacher at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth. He developed a musical code for blind musicians. In 1829, he published the book that introduced braille to the world. It was called Procedure for Writing Words, Music, and Plainsong by Means of Dots.

He caught tuberculosis and spent the later part of his life sick and physically deteriorating. He died in Paris in 1852 at age 43. It was two years before France adopted braille as its official reading and writing system for people who are blind.

Braille has evolved over the years. It’s been adapted to just about every major known language, complete with symbols, numbers, and a series of special contractions that make it faster to read. People can use braille to read spreadsheets and play music. It can be used to solve math equations, play board games, and more.

Today, with the help of technology, reading braille is more accessible and widespread than ever. Refreshable braille displays plugged into computers or electronic devices translate text on a screen into a series of pins that raise and lower to create words.

Jake L.*, a 19-year-old student at Perkins School For the Blind in Boston, uses braille to read fantasy books, surf the web, label the settings on his home microwave, and more. Like many braille users today, he sometimes uses audio and screen readers in combination with braille. But knowing the braille system, he says, has taught him important skills.

“With audio, you’re not always going to hear homophones or certain pauses or other small grammatical things that you’ll see when you’re reading it,” he says. “Braille is a great way to keep your literacy up.”

^{*It’s Perkins School policy not to release the names of students.}

Jake L. a 19-year-old student at Perkins School For the Blind in Boston, uses braille to read fantasy books and surf the web. He has used it to label the settings on his home microwave and more. Like many braille users today, he sometimes uses audio and screen readers in combination with braille. But knowing the braille system, he says, has taught him important skills.

“With audio, you’re not always going to hear homophones or certain pauses or other small grammatical things that you’ll see when you’re reading it,” he says. “Braille is a great way to keep your literacy up.”

^{*It’s Perkins School policy not to release the names of students.}