Slide5
When Braille was three, once he was playing in his father’s work shop, he accidentally struck an awl in his left eye. Few weeks later, his right eye lost sight as well because of an eye infection. Braille’s parents did not give up his son and sent him to ordinary village school. The village school did not have any books for blind to read. Braille paid much more effort than other students on his studies. As a result, his academic result was excellent.
Slide6
At the age of ten, he got a scholarship to the National Institute of Blind Youth which was a school especially for blind students in Paris. He was an all-round student in the institute. He studied well and learned playing piano and organ. Moreover, he assisted the professors to teach younger children. The books for the blind were inconvenient to be read. The words inside the books were huge and touchable, so the books were large and heavy.
Slide7
In 1822, the captain of an army, Charles Barbier gave a lecture at National Institute of Blind Youth. Captain Barbier had invented a night writing method for the soldiers who on the warfare to communicate secretly at night. The lecture gave 13-year-old Braille a lot of inspiration, he wanted to improve Captain Barbier’s invention for blind to read and write. Braille was working at night with his limited tools. He tested many different combinations. Braille finally finished his work at the age of fifteen. He invented a method that uses 6 dots combinations to read and write.
Slide8
Braille’s method was supported by the director of the institute immediately. In 1828, he became a full-time teacher in the institute. At the same time he went to College de France and studied organ also. The busy schedule and the bad environment in the institute made Braille’s health became worse.
Slide9
However, the new director of the National Institute of Blind Youth and sighted teachers did not support Braille’s method and changed back to old embossed letters. Students would be penalized if they were found to use Braille’s method. In addition, the government did not approve his method either. Therefore, Braille’s method could not spread widely. In 1834, at the age of twenty-six, Braille was very ill and suffered in serious tuberculosis.
Slide10
Kleinert told the audience that she read musical notations by using Braille. She hoped people to give credits to him. After that, the feedbacks about Braille method were unpredictable.
