Braille Literacy Month is celebrated every January, with special attention paid to January 4th. This is World Braille Day, in honor of the day the inventor of braille, Louis Braille, was born, back in 1809. Braille’s writing system utilizing a grid of six dots to represent letters and even words, revolutionized the way people who are blind and visually impaired could read.
Before braille, people with visual impairments learned to read with a system called “night writing,” invented by Charles Barbier in the early 1800s. This tactile writing system utilized 12 dots to represent letters, and was invented to help soldiers pass on information at night. Louis Braille wanted to create a more efficient means of reading. At age 15, he developed the six-dot system. This allowed readers to feel an entire cell with the tip of a finger, rather than moving their finger around a 12-dot cell to feel out a letter. Reading became easier and faster.
The six-dot cell is now the global standard for braille. Major languages all over the world have adopted those six dots and turned them into their own letters and symbols. While languages vary from country to country, the six-dot cell is universal. That quick, efficient reading is available to people with visual impairments all over.
Louis Braille passed away in 1853 at the age of 43. A year later, France, Braille’s home country, adopted braille as the standard for tactile literacy. From there, it rippled out, first to America and then beyond. Louis Braille’s work had a huge impact, and to this day, his contributions to access to literacy are celebrated all over the world.