Braille

Louis Braille lost his sight accidentally as a child. Nevertheless, he was able to complete his education at a school for the blind in Paris and became a teacher. In his day, the few books that were available for blind people were printed in big, raised-type, the letters used were those of the ordinary alphabet. The reading of such books required immense effort. Not only that, writing was almost impossible for a blind person, because the alphabet was extraordinarily difficult to reproduce on paper. Braille's idea was to use raised dots instead of raised letters. He invented a system which made use of only six dots in all. By various combinations of these dots, it proved possible to represent each letter in the alphabet. The sensitive fingers of a blind person can travel rapidly over the dots; and a small machine, something like a typewriter, enables the blind to write quickly and clearly.

Improvements are continually being made on the system. Large raised dots printed on one side of a page only, make many books for the blind cumbersome. A single book in ordinary print often runs into several volumes when it is turned into the dot-system. Furthermore, the dots, if they are subjected to a great deal of wear and tear, finally disappear, so that a book becomes useless. A machine has now been invented which fires plastic dots onto paper. These dots do not wear out at all, and there is no danger of their becoming flattened. It is also possible, by this means, to make use of both sides of a page and books for the blind are now thinner.

Though many modern inventions like the radio have brought great benefits to the blind, Braille's system remains the greatest landmark of all. It has provided a simple means to ensure that no blind person need spend his life in ignorance as well as darkness.