Braille, the language with which blind people can learn to read, is celebrated worldwide on January 4 since 2019. Find out how the Braille language came to Mexico and the opportunities that the country offers for those who lack sense of sight.
Braille has been present in Mexico since 1870, however, has its origin in France in the mid-19th century. Throughout history, Mexican society’s treatment of blind people and the opportunities they enjoy from the government and its different institutions have improved remarkably; although there is still a lot of work to do to achieve excellence.
It is partly thanks to theBraille language that blind people are included in modern Mexican society, in addition to other supports that allow them to develop more freely along the paths of life in Mexico.
Meet the father of tactile language, the story of how he came to Mexico and discover the institutions that support the blind, below.
The origin of Braille as a language
In France, during the year of 1812 and at barely 3 years old, the child Louis Braille she was playing with her father’s sewing tool; Unfortunately, running away, he stumbled and sustained injuries that left him partially blind. He lost his sight completely a short time later.
However, Louis Braille led a normal life and studied at the National Institute for Blind Youthwhere it became scientist and musician, being virtuoso on the organ and cello. From school it was noticed that he was an exceptional manbecause at that time blind people aspired to learn simple trades that help them earn a living.
In those times, the Royal Institute used its own language based on copper wires. These books were especially complicated to transport and very expensive, in addition to the fact that the students could not learn to write by this method.
In the year of 1821artillery captain Charles Barber visited the institute to present his own method, a tactile reading system that he invented so that his soldiers could talk without making noise. In 1824 and at the age of 15, Braille perfected Barbier’s tactile languagereducing from 12 to 6 the points used to write/read it. The Braille language has a total of 64 basic combinations including letters, numbers, and symbols.
In 1829, Louis Braille invented a 6-dot system of music notation. and it took him 5 years to write his book “Method for writing simple words, music and songs using dots, for use by the blind and specially designed for them”.
Together with his friend Pierre Foucault, who had lost his sight at age 6 and was a mechanical genius, created a machine that facilitated and accelerated the printing of works in Braille language.
Louis Braille died of tuberculosis at the age of 43 in 1852. Two years later, all of France had included Braille in its printing and little by little it spread to other countries in the world.
Braille as a language in Mexico
In 1866 the Municipal School for the Deaf on the Mexico City for Ignacio Trigueroswho was Minister of Finance in the governments of Antonio López de Santa Anna, Nicolás Bravo and other presidents of Mexico.
After confronting the Juárez government and being ousted, Trigueros founded the National School for the Blind in 1870, where he taught reading and writing the tactile language.