The most popular resource for visually challenged person is Braille. Braille system is a special way of reading and writing for people who cannot see. It was designed by Louis Braille. Louis Braille was born on 4th January 1809 in France. He and his three elder siblings lived with their parents. His father made leather goods to sell to other villagers. Louis’ father often used sharp tools to cut and punch holes in the leather. Louis became blind when he was 3 years old. One day while playing with one of his father’s tools, Louis’hand slipped and he accidentally poked one of his eyes. At first, the injury didn’t seem serious but then the wound become infected and the infection spread. Soon, Louis was blind in both eyes.

So, Louis needed a new way to learn. He stayed at his old school for two more years, but he could not learn everything just by listening. He went to the Royal Institute of Blind Youth at the age of 10. 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 in the dark. Louis reduced the number of dots in each character from Barbier’s 12 dots to 6 dots. This allowed all of the dots that made a single character to be touched at once with the fingertip. Louis continued to improve the system, which was mostly completed by the time he was 15.

Louis published the first-ever Braille book in 1829, which described his method of reading and writing. In 1837, he added symbols for mathematics and music. The students loved Louis new code. Braille was supported by the institute’s director until a new director of the school banned it in 1840. But Louis continued to work on his education and became an accomplished musician, writer, researcher, inventor and teacher at the same school he studied at, the National Institute for Blind Youth.
In 1852, he became seriously ill and died on 6 January at the age of 43. Braille went unused by most educators for many years after Louis’ death. Slowly, the world came to know of Louis Braille and adopted his system of dot writing.

In 1952, 100 years after his death, his body was taken to Paris and buried alongside the heroes of France. That day, every newspaper wrote about Louis and thousands of blind people lined the streets to honor him.