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All About Braille

By Anthony Diaz

Who invented Braille?

Braille was invented by a boy who started out not blind, but curious about his father's work. His father worked with leather and sharp tools. One day he went into his father's workshop and stabbed himself in the eye with one of his father's tools.

The boy's name was Louis Braille. An infection in his right eye traveled to his left eye and he went totally blind. When he was 15 he wanted to figure out a way how to let blind people read and write. So he invented Braille.

How Does Braille Work?

Six dots in different combinations make letters you can touch.

A braille cell is combination of six dots, three on one side and three on the other. Louis Braille invented a way to make letters out of the six dots in different combinations.

Today, braille is used in most countries in the world and you can even write numbers in braille.

Braille numbers begin with the braille number sign, three dots up and one dot to the left just like this,

In braille, pages are separated by a line that you can feel going across the page.

People who do not have a brailler can buy another machine, but they're very noisy! You hook them up to your computer and the brailler will translate words into braille.

There's another machine that scans pictures translates them into dots so blind people can feel them. Another machine looks like a metal rectangle. You use punch holes into the stencil to make braille cells.

More Information About Braille:

One company that makes braillers is Perkins Braillers.

You can find out more about braille here:

Braille Bug

Louis Braille Center

About the author:   11-year old Anthony Diaz attends school in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he attends class with a visually-impaired classmate. Anthony has learned a lot about braille from her and from her teacher. Says Anthony, "I would recommend braille to anybody because it's a cool thing to learn and know."