gspeech
Where Did Braille Come From?
Braille is a set of tactile symbols designed for reading that’s used all over the world by blind and visually impaired people; letters and symbols are represented by different configurations of a grid of six raised dots. One could easily assume that such a widely accepted system was drafted by someone with a wealth of experience, but inventor and namesake Louis Braille was just 15 years old at the time, a student at the Institution Royale des Jeunes Aveugles(Roayl Institute for Blind Youth) in Paris.
Young Braille, who lost his sight in an early childhood accident, didn’t build the system from scratch. French inventor Charles Barbier had a keen interest in shorthand, and spent a lot of time developing alternate notation methods that didn’t require traditional writing. In 1815, he published a collection of methods for tactile reading, including a series of raised bumps in a 12-dot grid. Barbier had visually impaired people in mind when he designed this method, but as a sighted person, he couldn’t fully test it on his own.
When Braille first enrolled at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in 1819, students learned to read raised cursive letters, which were not only difficult to read but very rarely taught kids to write. But in 1821, the school started using Barbier’s system, which was much easier to both read and write. Braille, who had firsthand experience with the system and knew how to improve it for visually impaired people, started developing his own version. His six-dot system, invented in 1824, was easier to read under a single fingertip, and could be adapted for math and music. He published his method in 1829, when he was 20 years old. Source: www.historyfacts.com
Statistics on Blind and Visually Impaired in the U.S.
Approximately 12 million people 40 years and over in the United States have vision impairment. This includes 1 million with blindness.
As of 2012, 4.2 million Americans aged 40 or older have uncorrectable vision impairment. This number is predicted to more than double by 2050. The US has a rapidly aging population, which means more people living with diabetes and other chronic conditions which can lead to vision loss.
Approximately 6.8% of children under 18 in the US have a diagnosed eye and vision condition. Nearly 3% of children under 18 years have blindness or vision impairment. This is defined as having trouble seeing even when wearing glasses or contact lenses.
An estimated 93 million adults in the United States have a high risk for serious vision loss, but only half visited an eye doctor in the past 12 months. This is important because when caught early, vision loss can often be prevented or delayed. The economic cost of major vision problems is estimated to increase to $373 billion by 2050.
Vision disability is one of the top 10 disabilities among adults 18 years and older. It’s one of the most prevalent disabling conditions among children.
Early detection and timely treatment of eye conditions such as diabetic retinopathy has been found to be effective. 90% of blindness in US adults caused by diabetes is preventable.
Vision loss causes a substantial social and economic toll for millions of people. This includes significant disability, loss of productivity, and decreased quality of life.
For more than half of American adults who didn’t seek eye care, it was due to cost or lack of awareness. Cost is often higher due to lack of adequate health insurance. Source: U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention