— Girafa em Braile
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— Girafa em Braile |
Louis Braille - The Inventor of Print for the Blind People
Louis Braille (1809-1852) nasceu em Coupvray, perto de Paris. A casa onde ele nasceu é, hoje, um museu. Ele tornou-se cego de um olho quando tinha 3 anos de idade, em um acidente com o seu pai.
Poucos anos mais tarde, perdeu seu outro olho, provavelmente como resultado de sympathetic ophthalmia. Ele foi enviado à Paris onde viveu em Hospice des Quinze-Vingts até os seus 10 anos de idade.
Depois, foi para Institution Nationale des Jeunes Aveugles, também Paris - onde foi treinado para ser um professor de matemática.
Busto de Louis Braille (1809-1852)
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Braille, the print for the blind developed by Louis Braille, a French teacher of the blind, in 1829, was one of the key inventions of the 19th century, and probably crucial for the integration of the blind into society. Today, this system of writing with its easy-to-feel dots is used worldwide.
The alphabet consists of six Braille cells, two dots wide and three dots high. Each letter consists of a different combination of one to six raised dots within the Braille cells; blind people read the characters by feeling the raised dots with their fingers.
Numbers in the Braille-system are introduced by a special symbol, visually looking like a mirrored "L". When this symbol is placed in front of e.g. the 3rd letter of the alphabet (the letter "C"), it creates a "3".
Following the alphabet shown above, it is easy to read the Braille-print on the Danish stamp below right. The top row says "Danmark", and the bottom row reads "350". The number is preceded by the (visually) inverted "L", then comes the letter "C" standing for 3, then the letter "E" standing for 5, and finally the letter "J" standing for "0".
A bust depicting Louis Braille, who died in 1852 from a lung disease, only 43 years old.
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In 1825, he submitted the system he had developed to the Paris Institute for the Blind. Whereas his fellow students fell to using the new system which was truly readable for blind people with enthusiasm, the Director of the institute was opposed to it from the outset, on the grounds that it separated sighted people from the blind. He therefore prohibited the use of Braille's system, imposing severe penalties on those who defied the ban, and even went so far as to burn the books which had been printed in Braille. It took several years for the ban to be lifted, but in 1878, at a congress in Paris, it was finally officially declared the international method for teaching at schools for the blind reading and writing world wide.
In 1825, Louis Braille submitted his work on Braille scripts to the Institute of the Blind in Paris for approval. However, it was rejected on the assumption it will differentiate the blind from the normal population (similar to the argument for the prohibition of the use of the sign language). It was not until his death that the French government decided to adopt it as the universal method of teaching the blind to read. Throughout his adult life, the living condition of Louis Braille was poor. He developed TB and died at the relative young age of 43 in 1852.
Many - if not most - countries world wide have issued stamps for the aid of the blind, printed in Braille. Any visitor to this page is invited to submit scans of stamps from their country, showing the Braille-print, and I will publish such contributions with full credits. Below are shown examples of such stamps.
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FILATELIA
Argentina 1939 (SG: 671) que mostra a efígie de Luis Braille. Argentina 1976 (SG: 1516), outro selo que também mostra a efígie de Luis Braill. Santa Lúcia 1981 (SG: 592), International Year of Disabled Persons.
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Antigua & Barbuda 1992 (SG: 1678), Inventions and inventors: Louis Braille and the Braille type. França 1938?1948 (SG: 1023), retrato de Louis Braille. Peru 1976 (SG: 1321), 150th Anniversary of the Braille System for the Blind.
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Série da Alemanha (DDR) emitida em 1975, os 3 selos mostram: Louis Braille, protetor de olhos e Sistema Braille.
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Guiana 1981 (SG: 857), International Year of Disabled Persons. Luxemburgo 1977 (SG: 990), 125th Death Anniversary of Louis Braille. Mali 1977 (SG: 584), 125th Death Anniversary of Louis Braille.
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Uruguai 1976 (SG: 1635), 150th Anniversary of the Braille System. Panamá 1981 (SG: 1286), International Year of Disabled Persons. União Soviética 1959 - 150th Birth Anniversary of Louis Braille.
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Veja o primeiro selo do mundo com letras gravadas em Braille!
Abaixo, bloco emitido pelo Brasil em 1979: "150 Anos da Publicação em Braille".
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O selo de Israel, emitido em 2001, comemora o aniversário de 100 anos do Instituto do Cego em Jerusalém (1902-2002). The stamp has a black background, symbolizing the blind person's world all in black. The Braille-dots are in different colours for each character. On the tabs is shown an outline drawing of the Institute for the Blind in Jerusalem. The text is in English, Hebrew and Arabic.
Coréia do Sul 1998 - White Cane Day: Curlew with Braille on stamp. Coréia do Sul 1981 (SG: 1468), International Year of the Disabled Persons. Espanha 1988 (SG: 2998), 50th Anniversary of National Organization for the Blind.
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Gana 1981 (SG: 974), International Year of Disabled Persons: Blind girl reading Braille. Arábia Saudita 1974/1975 (SG: 1096/1097), Day for the Blind. Gana 1972 (SG: 630), International Book Year: Books for the blind.
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Ilha de Man 1986 (SG: 328), Christmas Greeting with braille. Bélgica 1962 (SG: 1825), Stamps of Handicapped Children. Brunei 1981 (SG: 309), International Year of Disabled Persons. Arábia Saudita 1981 (SG: 1263), Blind woman reading Koran in Braille.
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Ilhas Mauricius 1990 (SG: 846), International Literacy Year: Blind child reading Braille. Holanda 1975 (SG: 1216), 150th Anniversary of Braille scripts. Japão 1990 (SG: 2121), 100 years of Braille in Japan. Mali 1982 (SG: 924), Lions Club Anniversary: Blind man with white and Braille in the background.
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Egito 1961 na série de 3 selos. Morrocos 1969 (SG: 272), Blind week.
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China 1985 (SG: 3373), Year of the Disabled Persons. Suíça 2003 - Braille on Stamps in aids of the Blind; There is a faded number of 70 to illustrate to the sighted how the blind sees. Egito - Welfare of the Blind. África do Sul 1981 (SG: 496), 100 years of the Worcester Institute for the Blind.
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Dinamarca 1986 (SG: 818), 75th anniversary of the Institute for the Blind, Denmark. Dinamarca 1990 - Braille on Stamp for the Blind. Malásia 1990 (SG: 447), International Literacy Year, Sign language and Braille. Holanda 1931 (SG: 398), Child Welfare Stamps: Blind girl reading Braille — parece que é este o primeiro selo sobre o tema!
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França 1989 (SG: 2861), Braille on Stamp issued in aids of the Blind. México 1995 (SG: 2262), 125th Anniversary of Blind School: Blind man with white stick and hand reading Braille. Índia 1987 (SG: 1362), 100 years of service to the blind.
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Croácia 1995 (SG: 402), 100 years of Braille in Croatia. Barbuda 1981 (SG: 579), International Year of Disabled People: Sign language and Braille. Suriname 1981 (SG: 1047), International Year of Disabled Persons.
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Chipre 1990 (SG: 771), International Literacy Year. Zaire 1981 (SG: 1079), International Year of Disabled Persons. Bélgica 1975/1976? (SG: 2409), 150th anniversary of Braille-script. The Braille print is hardly visible on the scan, but appears in black dots along the left side of the violet part of the stamp.
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http://www.mrcophth.com/ophthalmologyonstamps/mainpage.html
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Última atualização: 21/06/2007. |
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