Vatican City, Nov 5, 2009 / 12:41 pm
The Vatican post office has issued it's first ever Braille stamp to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, who created the universal reading and writing system for the blind.
The stamps feature a portrait of Louis Braille, the inventor's name, the Vatican City State and the price written in the raised dots of the Braille system. Valued at $0.96 each, 300,000 stamps have been issued and will go on sale at the Vatican's post offices near St. Peter's Basilica, according to the Canadian Press.
Born in France in 1809, Louis Braille was blinded in an accident at the age of four. Despite this challenge, he insisted on attending school at the age of ten and was accepted to the Institute of the Blind in Paris. He was instructed in the Huay method for teaching the blind, which did not allow for any writing.
Braille became an instructor at the school at the young age of 18 and within two years had developed a simpler and more intuitive learning method. He eventually expanded his method to include musical notation.
Shortly after his death at the age of 43, France adopted his system and at the World Congress of Education for the Blind in 1878, the Braille method was declared universal.