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Louis Braille

by Levi from Iowa City


Louis Braille was born in 1809. He became blind by messing with his father's tools. He hit his eye with a sharp tool called an awl while he was trying to hit leather. He wasn't strong enough to beat the leather so the tool glided off and hit his left eye. People did not know about germs back then, so the infection spread into his good eye. He was three years old when this happened. At the age of five he was totally blind.

At the time blind people didn't have many resources. Louis was able to go to his home school for three years. But then he was able to go to a school for the blind. His pastor, Father Palluy, make is possible so he could go to the National Institute for the Young Blind in Paris starting in 1819.


He was so happy because they had books for the blind. He was able to read because they taught him how. The books had big letters that bumped up, but the letters were so confusing. All of them felt the same.


Louis made the Braille alphabet that made it easier for blind kids to read books when he was only 12. He finished the Braille alphabet in 1826. He was a teacher at the school. Also, he played the organ at a nearby church to earn money.

The school banned Braille because the teachers were jealous that the writing of a 15 year old boy was replacing their book. The new director burned all the books in Braille. But the kids wanted Braille. Eventually the kids got it back in 1844, the same year that they allowed girls to be at the school. In 1852, two days after his forty third birthday, Louis Braille died of tuberculosis.

Page created on 12/9/2002 9:21:54 PM

Last edited 12/9/2002 9:21:54 PM

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