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<TD><IMG alt="Louis Braille" hspace=5
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<TD align=left><SPAN class=font20pt>Louis Braille
(1809-1852) </SPAN>
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class=font15pt>Six dots. Six bumps. Six bumps in
different patterns, like constellations, spreading out
over the page. What are they? Numbers, letters, words.
Who made this code? None other than Louis Braille, a
French 12-year-old, who was also blind. And his work
changed the world of reading and writing,
forever.</SPAN> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR>
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<TD><SPAN class=font15pt>Louis was from a small town called
Coupvray, near Paris—he was born on January 4 in 1809. Louis
became blind by accident, when he was 3 years old. Deep in his
Dad's harness workshop, Louis tried to be like his Dad, but it
went very wrong; he grabbed an awl, a sharp tool for making
holes, and the tool slid and hurt his eye. The wound got
infected, and the infection spread, and soon, Louis was blind
in both eyes.</SPAN> </TD></TR>
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<TD><SPAN class=font15pt>All of a sudden, Louis needed a new
way to learn. He stayed at his old school for two more years,
but he couldn't learn everything just by listening. Things
were looking up when Louis got a scholarship to the Royal
Institution for Blind Youth in Paris, when he was 10. But even
there, most of the teachers just talked at the students. The
library had 14 huge books with raised letters that were very
hard to read. Louis was impatient. </SPAN></TD></TR>
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<TD><SPAN class=font15pt>Then 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 without even having to speak. Unfortunately, the
code was too hard for the soldiers, but not for 12-year-old
Louis!</SPAN> </TD></TR>
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<TD><SPAN class=font15pt>Louis trimmed Barbier's 12 dots into
6, ironed out the system by the time he was 15, then published
the first-ever braille book in 1829. But did he stop there? No
way! In 1837, he added symbols for math and music. But since
the public was skeptical, blind students had to study braille
on their own. Even at the Royal Institution, where Louis
taught after he graduated, braille wasn't taught until after
his death. Braille began to spread worldwide in 1868, when a
group of British men, now known as the Royal National
Institute for the Blind, took up the cause.</SPAN> </TD></TR>
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<TD><SPAN class=font15pt>Now practically every country in the
world uses braille. Braille books have double-sided pages,
which saves a lot of space. Braille signs help blind people
get around in public spaces. And, most important, blind people
can communicate independently, without needing print.</SPAN>
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<TD><SPAN class=font15pt>Louis proved that if you have the
motivation, you can do incredible things. </SPAN></TD></TR>
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