Un Poco De Braille

The Industrial Revolution in 19th century France changed the way that sighted people worked and lived, but it didn’t change the lives of people who areblind. The Industrial Revolution changed how people worked because what people used to make by hand, machines could make faster. Instead of working from homepeople worked in factories. Although the Industrial Revolution created many jobs for people, it did not benefit blind people in any way. "To be blind in Francein 1812 meant being helpless, with no way to get an education or earn a living, forever dependent on others. About the best that most blind people couldhope for was to make a meager living weaving baskets or playing musical instruments. Many were forced to become beggars." . Blind people in the 19th century hadonly a grim future to look forward to, with little to no opportunities in regards to education and work. Most blind people didn’t get an education becausethere wasn’t a good method to educate the blind. If the family had money, they were able to send their blind children to one of the few schools, but eventhese schools did not have good methods for helping blind students learn to read or write. Valentin Haüy, however, had the idea that blind people could learn toread if they used their sense of touch. This led Haüy to open a school for blind children and began making embossed books that the students could read withtheir fingers. These books had big raised letters that formed words. Thanks to Valentin Haüy’s ideas and his school, Braille would one day be invented.