Italy · 200th birthday of Louis Braille

Louis Braille was born in Coupvray near Paris and was the son of a saddler. As a small child, he injured one eye in his father’s workshop. An infection spread to the other eye as well, leaving him completely blind. He later attended the Royal Institute for Young Blind People in Paris. There, books with raised Latin letters were used. They could be read by touch, but reading was slow; moreover, the books were large and laborious to produce.

A starting point for Braille’s own writing system was a “night writing” system developed by the French officer Charles Barbier. It was intended to enable soldiers to transmit messages without light or speech. Braille fundamentally simplified Barbier’s system. His characters are based on a cell of six tactile dots arranged in two columns. Different combinations of dots represent letters, punctuation marks and other characters. This means that texts can not only be read but also written independently with suitable aids.

Braille also developed systems of notation for mathematics and music. This was particularly important for education and vocational training. He later worked as a teacher at the Paris institute for the blind and was also active as an organist. His writing system initially gained acceptance there only slowly and was not officially introduced at the institute until after his death. During the further course of the 19th century, it spread internationally.

To this day, Braille is used in numerous languages and adapted to their respective particularities. It appears, among other places, in books, on medication packaging, in elevators and in public orientation systems. Digital Braille displays also reproduce screen contents through movable pins that can be read by touch.

The anniversary thus gave Italy an occasion to commemorate a cultural technique used throughout Europe and internationally. The focus is less on a national achievement than on blind people’s access to writing, education and independent communication.