ABOUT BRAILLE

The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.

Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two columns of three dots each. A dot may be raised at any of the six positions to form sixty-four (26) possible subsets. The positions being universally numbered 1 to 3, from top to bottom, on the left, and 4 to 6, from top to bottom, on the right. The lines of horizontal Braille text are separated by a space, much like visible printed text, so that the dots of one line can be differentiated from the Braille text above and below. Punctuation is represented by its own unique set of characters. The combination of Six dots can be used to Emboss Braille in all languages say Hindi, English, Bengali and so on.

LOUIS BRAILLE

Braille was born in Coupvray, a small town located southeast of Paris in Seine-et-Marne. His father was a saddlemaker, who also crafted harnesses, bags and leather straps. As soon as he could walk, Louis spent time playing in his father's workshop. At age three, he scratched his right eye while making holes in a piece of leather with a pruning knife or awl that was too heavy for him. There was nothing anyone could do except patch and bind the affected eye. The wound became severely infected and spread to his left eye causing his blindness

At the age of 10, Braille earned a scholarship to the National Institute for the Blind Youth in Paris, one of the first of its kind in the world. However, living conditions in the school were poor. Louis was served stale bread and water, and students were sometimes abused or locked up as a form of punishment.