Louis Braille

(http://simplyknowledge.com/biographies/louis-braille)

"I must focus on changing people's lives through my words, my actions, and how I live my life behind the scenes" ~John Di Lemme. Louis Braille changed others lives even though he was struggling being blind. Braille at the age of 3 blinded himself while in his father's workshop. After this incident, Braille started the creation of the outstanding system. This was a way of communicating with blind people. This code is still seen today. Braille is a hero that changed peoples lives. Due to Braille's determination and strength, he became a successful man whose way of communicating made blind people feel productive.

Louis Braille grew up in Coupvray, France (http://www.afb.org/louisbraillemuseum/braillemediaviewer.asp?FrameID=174)

Louis Braille was strong and even when he was doubted, he still successfully created his system. Braille had been doubted throughout the creation of the Braille system. "Barbier paid no attention to the young man, but Braille carried on with his thinking and experimentation, relying on his own insights and the critical suggestions of his peers. Pignier says that by 1825 the adolescent had already conceived the broad outlines of his system, the first published version of which appeared..." (WEYGAND, ZINA) Braille was doubted by a man named Barbier. He paid no attention to Braille and what he had to offer. Even though Braille had to deal with people not believing in him, he still continued to make his system better. Barbier gave Braille an extremely difficult while he worked on presenting his system. "Undeterred by the rejection of Barbier's system, Louis believed that the general idea held promise for use with the blind. He set to work designing a simpler six-dot version in which combinations of dots and spaces representing graphemes" (Herie, E.) Louis Braille struggled with getting people to understand what the goal of his system was. They thought that the blind are blind and are not going to be able to see, ever. He still continued trying to make this better, and simpler. Braille had some problems but he still stayed strong and true to himself and was determined to finish his system.

Louis braille's finalized system. (http://www.brailleiant.com/braille-candy.html)

Braille was also a determined man who never gave up his dream of creating a new way of communicating with the blind. His first formal presentation of the code needed some work. "Upon its first formal presentation, however, the method was not yet perfect. Some of its signs used smooth dashes as well as raised points, and they were too hard to distinguish by means of touch from two points occupying the same position. As Braille continued to improve his method, however, the signs with dashes were soon jettisoned." (WEYGAND, ZINA) His first presentation obviously needed work as he expected. He then started working on a simpler version of a system. Since his first code was not 100% Braille got busy. "He set to work designing a simpler six-dot version in which combinations of dots and spaces representing graphemes (e.g., letters, numbers, punctuation marks) were depicted on a 2 x 3 grid. For 3 years, from 1822 to 1825, Braille perfected his six-dot embossed system. He was only 13 to 16 years old at the time." (Herie, E.) Braille got started right away with updating and making improvements to his system to get approval. He created his 6- dot way of reading which was easy, and simple. Louis Braille was a determined man who strives to make his code better.

Thanks to Braille's determination and strength, blind people are are now able to communicate. "By 1837 Braille had already for several years been experiencing symptoms of the tuberculosis that was to cut his life short fifteen years later. This did not prevent him from continuing to work on writing systems or from addressing the problem of how the blind and the sighted might correspond with one another." Although Braille had contracted tuberculosis he continued finalizing the system,  "He finally settled on a fingertip-sized six-dot code, based on the twenty-five letters of the alphabet, which could be recognized with a single contact of one digit." (Louis Braille.) Braille even though he was doubted by many people and was fighting through tuberculosis he still managed to get his creation out there. Louis Braille was an incredible hero that made a code that allowed communication to blind people. He changed blind peoples life with his extraordinary alphabet, Braille.

Works Consulted

"Braille, Louis." Britannica Biographies (2012): 1. History Reference Center.
Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

"Louis Braille." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context.

Web.  

Louis Braille (1809-2009). Presentation at the Seventh World Blind Union General Assembly,

Herie, E. (2008, August). Six dots that changed the world: Remembrance of Louis Braille

(1809-2009). Presentation at the Seventh World Blind Union General Assembly, Geneva, Switzerland

WEYGAND, ZINA. "Braille, Louis." Europe 1789-1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry

and Empire. Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 296-298. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 25 Mar. 2015.