Maulana Wahiduddin Khan I The Sunday Guardian I April 13, 2014

Louis Braille (1809-1852) was born in France as a normal boy. He is famously known as the inventor of Braille, a system of reading and writing used by persons who are visually impaired. At the age of three, busy toying with the tools at his father's workshop, Louis met with an accident when a tool struck him in one of his eyes. He was attended by a local physician but the treatment did not help and the wound developed an infection, which gradually spread to the other eye. By the age of five, Louis Braille became completely blind from both eyes.

After losing his vision, Louis Braille used to recognise things by touching them with his hands. He discovered the power of touch, which is inherent in the fingertip. He was able to identify things by touching them with his fingertips and recognise them close to what sighted people could. This triggered his mind and he started thinking and experimenting tirelessly till he discovered what is called the Braille System.

Braille is a tactile system in which the user can read by touching the embossed representation with a fingertip. Braille is now an internationally recognised system. It is a unique blessing for visually impaired persons who developed a new hope and can say- I can read books although I have lost my vision!

There are millions of blind people who acquired a new hope from this system that was developed by a person who himself was totally blind. This incident tells us a great fact about nature, that nature has endless opportunities. There is no end of opportunities in the world of nature! Previously, disabled persons were referred to as "disabled." It was believed that they have become impaired for the rest of their lives, but recent research has disclosed that disabled persons are actually "differently-abled". What can be better than this message from the Creator.