World Braille Day is being celebrated around the world today.
Louis Braille – the Frenchman who invented the code in 1821 – was born on 4 January 1809 and his birthday is internationally recognised as World Braille Day, with some countries also celebrating Braille Week.
As a small child, Braille was blinded in an accident. Despite his disability, he thrived at his studies and became a professor, teaching history, geometry and algebra. He was also an accomplished musician.
Braille developed the eponymous reading system for the blind and visually impaired, using patterns of small rectangular blocks called cells that contain tiny palpable bumps called raised dots. The number and arrangements of these dots distinguish one character from another.