Louis Braille, The hero of blind people
Louis Braille was born on 04 January 1809 in Coupvray, a small French commune near Paris. His father ran a successful saddlery, he made the people Saddles for their horses. The little Louis, it was forbidden to play in the workshop, there were many dangerous and sharp-edged tools is to require the father to edit the leather. In an unguarded moment, the 3-year-old Louis slipped but once in the workshop and wanted to imitate the father to drill holes with a pointed tool into the leather. Suddenly he slipped away so badly that he thereby downed at one eye.
The injured eye became infected and this infection quickly spread to the other eye out. The doctors could do nothing for him, because were still missing at this time the medical means to help the little Louis can. He saw now getting worse and the gray veil over his face grew, until he totally blind shortly thereafter. His life seemed mapped out, because the blind then moved from place to place to beg. But the parents wanted a happy and fulfilling life for Louis, and so they did not give up her son. Louis had help from now on in the home and also for his father, he could have carried out various things. As a matter of course the parents reported the little Louis at the village school in spite of some concerns of the teacher who never teach a blind child.
But Louis was in spite of the darkness that surrounded him, a cheerful child. He was a very diligent student and was able to keep fully in the head after she had read to him the contents of textbooks. At the age of ten years, the parents sent him to a special school for the blind in Paris in order to promote it better. There, the little Louis felt very comfortable because there were many interesting things taught, such as mathematics or history. There was work lessons and music lessons, where he learned various musical instruments with enthusiasm. Louis was a very talented student and was awarded for his achievements many prizes and awards, but with time felt Louis increasingly the burden of blindness and the low esteem in society. Again and again he asked himself the same questions: How could learn the script of the blind and the seeing how you could capture the shapes of the letters of the alphabet palpable? It was an almost insurmountable obstacle.
In class, we often used to read wood or cast in lead characters, compiled each to words. This could be marked also in books, but these were very heavy and unwieldy, it took an eternity to finally be able to read a sentence. Louis knew that these methods would never help the blind to evolve, but with this view he was at school there alone. Until that day when a captain in the French army should visit the school for the blind. He had found a method by means of which the soldiers were able to transmit messages in the dark. He called them night writing and he thought that might be interested for the blind students.
The 11-year-old Louis was immediately excited about this night writing, which consisted of two vertical rows, where up to six points were impressed and could be felt. The disadvantage was however that it was impossible to detect the arrangement of points with just one movement, and it was also very time consuming because of this, read this night writing. Louis made the captain immediately some improvements, but they were shot down immediately, because of a little boy, the captain had not advise.
But Louis was not discouraged by this rejection, he recognized the potential that lay dormant in this night writing, even though he was only ridiculed by teachers and certainly not supported. From now on, he worked day and night to improve the system, somehow he had to do it to be able to create a logical and simplified arrangement of the alphabet. With incredible stamina he could not be beaten, despite some setbacks. He reduced the number to six points, which were arranged in two columns of three lines. The combination possibilities are now provided enough variations for representing the alphabet. In 1825 and after years of experiments, Louis finally succeeded at the age of 16 years to complete his first Braille. She was perfectly adapted to the reading finger and was also suitable for musical notes.
His classmates were like Louis totally excited about this new Braille. They could now easily make notes and write letters to each other. The teachers felt at the beginning but at a disadvantage because they did not know this Braille and also did not want to learn. It came so far that the new director this Braille even banned, because it was felt that the blind would be isolated by a font that seeing was unknown. Louis and his school friends used this Braille but continued secretly.
Louis tried with a public lecture where he read works by an English poet that to convince people that he could really read and write quickly. They did not believe him but accused him of having learned the lyrics by heart. Louis even wrote a letter to the French Minister of the Interior for its Braille should be taught at schools for the blind, but again he did not get any support.
Over time, however, spread the Braille by Louis because it was not really a viable alternative. More and more people knew this simple ability to help the blind people through these Braille, appreciate. However, it should still many years before its invention also officially became recognized. Louis Braille was already made in the meantime as a teacher at his school, where he also gave music lessons.
Only in 1850, 25 years after Louis had invented his Braille, it was finally officially introduced for teaching in French schools for the blind. Louis had finally made it that its Braille was recognized. But health he was doing now very bad, because it for some time suffered from tuberculosis (bacterial infection) and only had very little power.
Louis Braille died on 06 January 1852 age 43 of complications from the disease. The international triumphs of his Braille he did not live with. 1878 Braille was officially declared on a Paris Convention for the International Braille and more and more countries around the world adopted this ingenious invention.
The life of Louis Braille was marked by the development of its Braille to allow blind people a better life. Despite all the opposition, who accompanied him throughout his life, he always believed in his Braille and was never distracted until his death from his path. With this model adhere setting he changed the world a better place, its Braille helps today millions of blind people out of their isolation.