Would Louis’ invention ever be used to help all blind people?

The story so far: Louis Braille spent his spare time at his school for the blind trying to improve on a night writing system so blind students could learn to read and write.

Louis’ classmates at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth tried out his new Braille alphabet system. They were delighted to find how well it worked. Now they could take notes in class. Memorizing long class lectures wasn’t necessary any more. They didn’t need anyone’s help to read or write.

Louis was very happy that his classmates liked his new code, but he wanted other blind people to be able to use it too. The school director wrote to the French government and asked if Louis’ dot alphabet could be made the official system of writing for the blind.

In the meantime, Louis became an assistant teacher at the institute. His classes were very popular. He also spent a lot of time copying books into his code. He even added symbols so that blind musicians could read and write music. He eventually had a book published describing his new code.

Louis also learned to play the organ. He played so well, he worked as an organist at a nearby church. He soon became a full-time teacher at the institute. In 1834, Louis demonstrated his dot alphabet at the Exhibition of Industry held in Paris . All sorts of inventions were shown there. He took notes as people spoke and then read back what was said.

The French king was at the exhibition and saw Louis’ invention, but he didn’t make it the official language for the blind. The king also didn’t offer any money to create books in the dot alphabet.

Friday: Would Louis’ invention ever be used to help all blind people?