note: this was for a newsletter on the history of accessibility i tried to start for substack.
Photo by Thirdman: https://www.pexels.com/photo/hands-of-a-person-on-an-open-braille-book-7265312/
Hello and welcome to Historica11y! This first issue is all about braille and its invention, and the next issues will be about its spread and usage today. I’m so excited to be bringing this issue to you all, and as ever, if you have any questions, comments or feedback don’t hesitate to get in touch!
I chose to cover braille first as I was inspired by a comprehensive Tumblr post, as well as only becoming aware of the existence of refreshable braille displays during my research.
What is Braille?
Invention
Braille was invented1 by Louis Braille, born in 1809 in Coupvray, France. He became blind at three after an accident (with an awl in his father’s leatherworking workshop), and subsequent inflammation in both eyes2.
His parents were literate, which was unusual for a villager at the time, so Braille already knew the alphabet at the time of his accident (true? wording!). raised him like his siblings (true?) which was unusual at the time (why? what was the usual treatment?). His parents made him canes and engravings (true?) so he could navigate his village/town (which? true?).
He attended the Royal Institute for Blind Youth (now the National Institute for Blind Youth) in Paris, France, one of the first dedicated schools for blind children. Started in 1771, 3 books when Louis went, in an embossed Roman script (name?) the visual Roman font but in huge letters. Big, hard to manoeuvre books, long and expensive embossing process with wire letters, which meant that blind students couldn’t write themselves. Apparently a horrible environment physically - one bowl of soup a day, walls dripping and covered in mould :( (according to podcast)
Developed from night writing, a system of writing using raised dots developed for soldiers on leather (I think?) and others to use in the dark (why?). Braille found the system complicated, and, between the ages of thirteen and sixteen, he worked to modify it, changing a twelve-dot system to the six-dot cell that is still in use today. Then in 1821, a former soldier named Charles Barbier visited the school. Barbier shared his invention called “night writing,” a code of 12 raised dots that let soldiers share top-secret information on the battlefield without even having to speak. Unfortunately, the code was too hard for the soldiers, but not for 12-year-old Louis.
Louis trimmed Barbier’s 12 dots into 6, ironed out the system by the time he was 15, then published the first-ever braille book in 1829. In 1837, he added symbols for math and music (modify!) Braille was blind himself and though night writing was too complicated. An innovation by and for blind people. Was unused and ignored by educators until after his death. some primitive braille destroyed as headmasters at the school - and the rest of the teachers of blind people in the world - were still against braille as a system. RNIB instituted by blind people for blind and visually impaired people to learn braille and have braille be the language taught to the blind in the UK (“literary code”), spread after that to the EU and the US (1917 to the states? according to podcast).
Invented by Braille at 14 - 15 years old (according to podcast)
Musical braille (developed by Braille himself), scientific and mathematical.
Adoption? Percentage of blind people who used to learn it when it was paper only. low adoption apparently partly due to learning braille later in life after sight loss/change later in life.
slate and stylus writing
Sighted people were worried that braille adoption would make them lose their jobs teaching embossed type (check sources)
Current Usage
https://www.antiquetypewriters.com/typewriter/hall-braille-writer-1/
https://www.duxburysystems.com/bthist.asp
history of braille typewriters. first computerised typewriter?
Approximately 2.2 billion people around the world have a visual impairment to varying degrees. Of the total 3.44% of legally visually impaired people, 0.49% are blind. (find a source)
The Future of Braille
World Braille Day is observed on 4 January every year. Initiated by the United Nations in 2019, this day is observed globally to celebrate the usefulness of Braille, the world’s most popular tactile writing system, for blind and partially sighted people. The date of 4 January was chosen to honor Louise Braille, the inventor of the Braille writing system. Louis Braille was born on 4 January 1809. (modify) First World Braille Day was in 2019.