louis braille ppt

LOUIS BRAILLE
1809 - 1852
THE GENIOUS BEHIND THE HANDICAP
In 1812, in the small village of Coupvray , France, 3-year-old
Louis Braille played in his father's harness shop next to the
family's house. His father was one of the best harness
makers in the area. Mr. Braille also made reins, saddles and
collars for the villagers' horses. He cut strips of leather and
punched holes in the leather with sharp tools.
However, one day he decided to punch a hole in a piece of
leather just like his father did.


He grabbed the tool and tried to push it through the
leather . The tool slipped from his hand and flew up and
into his left eye. His eye was hurt. He got an infection.
The wound got infected, and the infection spread, and
soon, Louis was blind in both eyes.
He attended school but all he could do was listening.
By the age of 10 he got a scholarship to the Royal
Institution for Blind Youth in Paris.
He continued to excel in his studies and also began
playing the piano and organ. The same year Braille
entered the school, Captain Charles Barbier invented
sonography, or night writing, a system of embossed
symbols (standing out from the surface) used by soldiers
to communicate silently at night on the battlefield.


Louis trimmed Barbier's 12 dots into 6, ironed out the system
by the time he was 15, then published the first-ever braille book in

1829. But did he stop there? No way! In 1837, he added symbols for
math and music.
Braille began to spread worldwide in 1868, when a group of
British men, now known as the Royal National Institute for the
Blind, took up the cause.
Now practically every country in the world uses braille. Braille
books have double-sided pages, which saves a lot of space. Braille
signs help blind people get around in public spaces. And, most
important, blind people can communicate independently, without
needing print.