Was there a better way to make books for blind readers?

  

The story so far: At age 3, Louis Braille became blind after playing with a tool in his father’s harness shop.

Mr. Louis Braille carved a small wooden cane for Louis to help the boy feel things that were ahead of him when he walked. When Louis was 6, a new priest came to town. The priest gave Louis lessons for a year, but Louis wanted to go to the village school with the other children. So a classmate agreed to pick him up each morning and lead him to school. Louis listened to the teacher and memorized what he heard. Even though he couldn’t read or write, he was the best student in the class. He studied there for three years.

At times Louis Braille was frustrated because he could not read or write. The priest and the principal thought Louis would do better in a school for blind students. There was only one school like this in France — the Royal Institute for Blind Youth. It was in Paris, 25 miles away. Louis’ parents were reluctant to let him go away from home. He was only 10 and the school was very expensive. The priest persuaded his parents to apply. The school accepted Louis and even paid for him to go to class and live there.

The school was in a rundown old building. It was damp and dark, and the students were given very little food. After his classes, Louis learned to play the cello and the piano. He couldn’t read music, but he memorized the notes. Louis was looking forward to learning to read. Unfortunately, there were very few books available for blind students. They were printed on heavy, waxed paper. The letters were formed by pressing the paper onto pieces of lead that were shaped like the letters of the alphabet. This process was called embossing. The books were very heavy. One sentence could take up a whole page. Louis learned to run his fingers over the pages so that he could feel each letter. It took a long time to read this way. By the time he got to the end of a sentence, he would forget the words at the beginning.

Wednesday: Was there a better way to make books for blind readers?