The Braille alphabet has been around for a long time. It was developed in France, by a little blind boy, in 1825. At that time, there were basically no books for the blind. The few that existed were big and bulky, using a system with raised letters, each letter of word being spelled out.
Louis Braille, who had a quest for knowledge and very little opportunity to quench it, met an officer from the French army. He showed him a system with raised dots that had been used during the war to communicate secrets. The system was difficult to use, but Louis Braille had found his inspiration.
From this system he developed an easy-to-use system with six raised dots. The positions of the dots determined the letter intended. He even improved it so it could be used for mathematics. Finally- a way of writing and reading for the blind!
In time, this alphabet was refined. Grade One Braille is basically the alphabet and the numbers. Today, most people use grade two Braille. This includes a number of abbreviations, making the books printed less enormous. For example, the letter a means and, the letter b but, and so forth. The English grammar form -ing, has its own sign, etc. Grade Three Braille is highly abbreviated and usually only used for personal note-taking.
Braille has made it possible for many blind people to use computers. There are Braille displays that can be connected to the computer, showing in Braille what is on the screen.
Little did the blind boy in France know what an impact he would have on people, hundreds of years after his death. Sadly, although he continued using his alphabet as a teacher for the blind, he was not really recognized until after his death. The alphabet was named after him, and many are the people who have blessed him for his invention!
