 Ableton On Air is sponsored by Green Mountain Support Services, empowering people with disabilities to be home in the community. Washington County Mental Health, where hope and support comes together. Media sponsors for Ableton On Air include Park Chester Times, Muslim Community Report, WWW, this is the Bronx.info, Associated Press Media Editors, New York Parrot Online Newspaper, U.S. Press Corps, Domestic and International, Anchor FM, and Spotify. Partners with Ableton On Air include Yachad New York and New England, where everyone belongs, the Orthodox Union, and the Vermont Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Ableton On Air has been seen in the following publications, Park Chester Times, New York Parrot Online Newspaper, Muslim Community Report, WWW, this is the Bronx.info, and www.h.com. Ableton On Air is a member of the National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences, Boston, New England Chapter. Welcome to this edition of Ableton On Air, the one and only program that focuses on the needs, concerns, and achievements of the differently able. I've always been your host, Lauren Seiler, and we would like to thank our wonderful sponsors, Washington County Mental Health, Green Mountain Support Services, and many others, including partners with the Orthodox Union, Yachad New York, Yachad New York and New England, and the Vermont Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired. On today's program, we will focus on Louis Braille. So let's get started. Louis Braille created Braille, of course, and he was born on January 4th, 1809, and died on January 6, 1852. He was a French educator and inventor of a system of reading and writing for use for the blind and visually impaired. His system remained virtually unchanged to this day and is known worldwide simply as Braille. Okay, so we're going to show some pictures. Um, Braille was blinded at the age of three in one eye as a result of an accident with a stitching all in his father's harness making shot. Consequently, an infection set in and spread to both eyes, resulting in total blindness at the time that there were not many resources in place for the blind, but nevertheless he excelled in his education and received a scholarship to Francis Royal Institute for Blind Youth. While a student there, he began developing a system of tactile code, tactile C, I mean T-A-C-T-I-L-E code that could allow blind people to read and write and quickly, effectively inspire, but quickly and efficiently, sorry, inspired by the military, uh, uh, uh, Crip, uh, Crip, the writing called Crip, not from C, wait, C-R-Y-P-T-O graphy, uh, cryptography by Charles Barbier. Braille constructed a new method, um, built specifically for the needs of the blind. He presented his work to his peers in the first time in 1824. In adulthood, Lewis Braille served as professor at the Institute in which he had, um, application as a musician, but he largely spent the remainder of his life refining and extending the system of Braille. It went unused by most educators for many years after his death, but posthumously has been recognized as a revolutionary invention and has been adapted for use in different languages worldwide. Lewis Braille was born in Cuvier, France, about 20 miles of Paris on the 4th of January, 1809, uh, with, with three elder siblings, okay? Um, as soon as he could walk, Braille, Braille's time was spent playing with his father in his father's workshop. At age of three, he was playing with some of the tools, um, trying to make holes, uh, with a piece of leather and an awl. Squinting closely at the surface, he pressed down with some of the tools, trying to make holes in a piece of leather, uh, in a piece of leather. Um, the next day, uh, a surgeon, um, with no treatment, couldn't shave the damaged organ in terms of the eye. In agony, the young boy suffered for weeks. Uh, as the, as the wound became severely infected, he eventually lost sight in the other eye due to, um, symptom, symptom, uh, of memia. I can't pronounce that. Um, Braille survived the torment of the infection by the age of five. He was completely blind in both eyes. Um, yeah. Um, no, mainly wooden canes. I don't think they came up with blind canes yet. Um, but we can do the history of the blind cane. That, that can be part of this. Um, um, so, yeah, yeah. Um, the Braille system was determined to invent, uh, Braille was determined to invent a system of reading and writing, because we can show pictures of Braille, um, that could bridge the gap of communication between sighted and the blind in his, um, in his own words, access to, in his own words, he said that access to communication in the widest sense to knowledge that is vitally important for us, the blind, are not to go on being this despite despised or patronized by condescending sighted people, not, um, not need pity or that we, uh, needed to be reminded we are vulnerable. Um, we must be treated as equals and communicate the way we can and the way this can be brought about. In 1821, Braille learned a new communication system devised by Captain Charles Barbier of the French army. Um, uh, let's see here. Um, let's, let's go down. Uh, wait. Um, okay. In 1824, when he was 15 years old from Barbier's night writing, he, uh, innovated and simplified a form by maximizing the efficiency of the dots. He made uniform columns for, uh, for each letter and he reduced the 12 raised dots of six. He published the system in 1829 by the second edition in 1837. He had discarded the dashes because they were difficult to read. Crucially, Braille's smaller cells were capable of being recognized as letters with a single touch of the finger. Do you have anything to say about that? Go ahead. Okay. Who invented, nobody has to be more about that. Yes. Um, okay. So, yeah. Um, yeah, but now the king, next time we can talk about that. Um, but yeah, there's several people that, James B. Biggs, uh, James Biggs of Bristol claimed to have invented the White King in 1921. After an accident, he claimed his site, his site. The artist had to readjust to his environment, feeling threatened by increased motor vehicle traffic around his home. Biggs decided to paint his walking stick white to make him more visible to motorists. Now, according to the American Council, uh, American Council for the Council for the Blind, um, and according to AFB, um, yeah, um, the following is a short history of the White King written by Philip Strong. Okay. Um, American Council for the Blind. So that's, um, here, I don't know. This is a long thing. So we can, um, there was a special White King ordinance or law passed in 1930 in Peoria, Illinois. It granted blind pedestrians, uh, protections for the right of way while carrying a White King. In 1935, Michigan began promoting the White King as a visible symbol for the blind. On February 25th, 1836, an ordinance was passed by the City of Detroit recognizing the White King. Um, to promote a new ordinance, the, uh, demonstration was held at City Hall where blind and visually impaired people were represented by White Kings. The following year, Donald Shore wrote the position of a bill and had it promote proposed by Michigan State Legislature. The proposal gave the carrier of the White King protection while traveling on the streets of Michigan. Uh, Governor Frank Murphy signed the bill into law in March, 1937. During the early 1960s, good question. Blind, blind presidents. Wait, Patterson, Patterson. I don't think we ever had any blind presidents, but let me see. No, Theodore Roosevelt. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th president, was my, uh, was myopic or nearsighted and was blind in one eye from a retinal detachment. George A. W. Bush, our 40th president, and only one still living, well, um, has glaucoma. Uh, well, he's not living. Uh, I don't think, uh, they have him here still living, but he's not living. Uh, they need to change that. But, uh, President Lincoln, um, noted that his left, his left eye at times, President Lincoln noted that his left eye at times upward independently of his eye, uh, a condition now, now determined as, uh, as strapped, as strapped, as strapped in us. Um, Lincoln noticed double vision only occasionally and did not bother him a great deal. Said Fishman, a retired Washington optometrist and history buff. So yeah, so, um, since we have 10 minutes left, let's, uh, for those, um, that want information about services for the blind here in Vermont, since we're on the topic, uh, the Vermont, uh, the vision for the blind and visually impaired is in the state of Vermont, and we can, um, go over the number and, uh, and the, um, yeah, but then, uh, we'll talk about Vermont services. Okay. Anyway, that, anyway, um, uh, yeah, vision services for the blind, but we'll talk about Vermont. For those that want information about any services of Vermont from the, from the blind and visually impaired, uh, you can go, um, to the following location. Um, uh, there, one of the main locations is, um, HC2 South 280 South 280 State Drive, what, what a very Vermont 05671. Um, and, and their number, their number is 802-405-5005. I'll repeat it again. Their trophy number is 1-888-405-5005. Um, and, um, for more information and general contact, uh, for Dale or, um, the, um, the vision for independent living, elderly and independent living, or, um, dbbi is 8 is a hs.dale dbbi, um, info at Vermont.gov. That, um, email again is a hs.dale dv, uh, dbbi, info at Vermont.gov. Um, and for more information on Lewis Braille and his work or anything that we have spoken about today, you can go to Wikipedia and there's plenty of information there. Uh, we would like to thank, um, the following, um, Washington County Mental Health, Wing Mountain Support Services, um, and supporters such as Yakha New York and New England, the Orthodox Union, and, um, the Vermont Division for the Blind is visually impaired, and we are also members of the, um, National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences, Boston, New England Chapter. We would also like to thank the Muslim Community Report, New York Proud Online Newspaper, and the Fortress of Times. Um, this puts an end to this edition of Ableton On Air. I'm Lauren Seiler. See you next time. Ableton On Air is sponsored by Green Mountain Support Services, empowering people with disabilities to be home in the community. Washington County Mental Health, where hope and support comes together. Media sponsors for Ableton On Air include Parkchester Times, Muslim Community Report, WWW, this is the Bronx dot info, Associated Press Media Editors, New York Parrot Online Newspaper, US Press Corps, Domestic and International, Anchor FM and Spotify. Partners with Ableton On Air include Yakha New York and New England, where everyone belongs, the Orthodox Union, and the Vermont Division for the Blind and visually impaired. Ableton On Air has been seen in the following publications. Parkchester Times, New York Parrot Online Newspaper, Muslim Community Report, WWW, this is the Bronx dot info, and WWW dot h dot com. Ableton On Air is a member of the National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences, Boston, New England Chapter.