What is Braille
A girl using Braille in Mali.
© Tugela Ridley/Sightsavers
Braille was invented by a French man called Louis Braille around 200 years ago. Louis became totally blind at the age of three and his family and friends had to support him a lot so that he could go to school. When he grew up he was very interested in making life easier for people who were blind.
He wanted to help children who were blind to learn how to read and write. As they could not see letters of the alphabet he thought they might be able to feel them instead.
He invented a system called Braille. Every letter can be felt by six dots in different patterns. To find out more, listen to our Braille podcast.
We can also send you a card that shows you the whole alphabet in Braille and you can learn how to write your name with this special system. If you would like a Braille card then email or call us on schools@sightsavers.org or 01444 446768.
