The Difference the Dots Make: A Personal History with Braille (Louis Braille Celebration‪)‬

Although braille has been used in the United States since as early as the 1860s and its use has opened career opportunities to hundreds of thousands of blind people, in most public schools braille is not taught to blind students, and the right to learn braille was not codified in the legal system of the United States until 1998. Very few college programs that instruct teachers of the blind demand fluency in the reading and writing of braille sufficient to permit a graduate to pick up a braille page and read it with ease. Reading a braille book for pleasure is a concept that many blind people and many teachers of the blind simply do not have. The year 2009 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille. His reading and writing system for the blind is the most important invention ever created for blind people; it has brought opportunity and joy to the hearts of millions. The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has declared this year the year of braille literacy--the year of Braille Readers are Leaders. We want to double the braille literacy rate for the blind of the United States, and we have received support for our aspirations from many quarters. The U.S. Mint has been instructed by Congress to strike a commemorative silver dollar with readable, properly made braille embossed upon it. If our society believes that blind people have something to contribute, then we will believe in the tools used by the blind, and braille is one of the most important.