APH News & Press
The public is invited to celebrate Braille Literacy Month with a visit to APH
News Release: Louisville, Kentucky, January 18, 1999
Free activity: The public is invited to celebrate Braille Literacy Month with a visit to the American Printing House for the Blind. Visitors can take a plant tour or visit the Museum where they have the opportunity to write their names in braille.
January is National Braille Literacy Month. January was chosen for this celebration because it is the birth month of Louis Braille, the inventor of the system of raised dots that made it possible for people who are blind to read and write for themselves with independence and freedom.
The American Printing House for the Blind produces text books and other materials in braille, including the Federal Tax forms, the Bible and menus for various restaurants. Visitors can see the braille department in action during the PLANT TOUR that is offered Monday through Thursday at 10 AM or 2 PM. (Reservations are required for groups of ten or more.)
MUSEUM visitors can learn about the history of braille, see artifacts such as the book of Psalms from Helen Keller's Bible, printed in braille here at APH, and write their own names in braille. The museum is open 8:30 to 4:30 Monday-Friday.
ABOUT THE INVENTION OF BRAILLE: 1999 coincides with the 190th anniversary of Louis Braille's birth, January 4, 1809, in the village of Coupvray, near Paris, France. He became blind at the age of three. He attended the local school until 1819, when he was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Institution for Blind Youth. Soon after enrolling at the school, he started to develop his reading code. In 1824, at the age of fifteen, he invented the braille system. In 1829, he published his work in Method of Writing Words, Music and Plain songs by Means of Dots for Use of the Blind.
The initial idea for a raised system of dots came from a military code called "night writing" that was used by French soldiers to communicate in darkness. It was based on a pattern twelve dots arranged in a "cell." Unfortunately, the fingertip could not feel the entire raised symbol with a single touch. Louis took this idea and adapted it by reducing the number of dots to six so that the fingertip could cover the entire cell with one touch.
Braille has undergone continuous modification over the years, particularly through the addition of contractions for frequently used words.
The American Printing House for the Blind, founded in 1858, is the oldest organization of its kind in the United States and the world's largest not-for-profit company that creates educational, workplace and life-style products and services for visually impaired people.
Contact Roberta Williams, Public Relations Specialist, for more information. Telephone: 1 -800-223-1839 or (502) 895-2405; e-mail: rwilliams@aph.org