Braille was born in Coupvray, France a small town located east of pairs. He and his
three elder siblings - Monique Catherine Josephine Braille (b. 1793), Louis - Simon
Braille (b. 1795), and Marie Céline Braille (b. 1797) - lived with their mother, Monique
and father, Simon René, on three hectares of land vineyards in the country side, Simon-
René maintained a successful enterprise as a leatherer and maker of horse tack.
As soon as he could walk, Louis spent time playing in his father's workshop. At the
age of three, the child was toying with some of the tools, trying to make holes in a piece of
leather with an awl. Squinting closely at the surface, he pressed down hard to drive the
point in, and the awl glanced across the tough leather and struck him in one of his eyes. A
local physician bound and patched the affected eye and even arranged for Louis to be met
the next day in Paris by a highly - respected surgeon, but no treatment could save the
damaged organ. In agony, the young boy suffered for weeks as the wound became
severely infected and spread to his other eye.
Louis Braille survived the torment of the infection but by the age five he was
completely blind in both eyes. His devoted parents made great efforts - quite uncommon
for the era to raise their youngest child in a normal fashion, and Louis prospered in their
care. He learned to navigate the village and country paths with canes his father hewed for
him, and he grew up seemingly at peace with his disability. His bright and creative mind
impressed the local teachers and priests, and he was encouraged to seek higher education
