J. Robert Atkinson

J. Robert Atkinson (November 29, 1887 – February 1, 1964) was the founder of the Universal Braille Press in 1919 in Los Angeles, later known as the Braille Institute of America, and published the first Braille edition of the King James Version of the Bible, among other books. Atkinson became an innovator and advocate for the blind, working to enable the sight-impaired to lead normal lives.

Life Born sighted in Galt, Missouri, he dropped out of school and at age 16, went to Montana, where he worked as a cowboy until a gun accident wounded him in the face and eyes. Taken unconscious to the hospital, he remained in critical condition for nearly two weeks. His doctors removed his eyes, which they felt were injured beyond recovery, to prevent infection and save his life.

On regaining consciousness and discovering he was blind, Atkinson was beside himself. He said, "I cursed the treacherous weapon for having failed to complete its job. I cursed the doctors for having brought me back to life. I wanted the death, which it seemed to me had been denied me only to force me into a life of never-ending hopelessness and misery..." Decades later, he described the moment. "...in that one instant, all the inner darkness which had so completely engulfed me was gone, and in its place was a radiant and inexpressible glory of hope and promise so that no night remained and, with the night, vanished all my forebodings of a dark, hopeless, helpless future..." With family members dictating to him, he used a Braille typewriter to transcribe educational and other material, filling 16 volumes in Braille.

In 1919, he met Mary Beecher Longyear, a wealthy philanthropist involved in efforts to help the blind. She provided funds to establish a Braille printing press and for Atkinson to produce the King James Version of the Bible. He founded the Universal Braille Press in 1919; the Braille King James Bible was finished in 1924. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame: Leaders and Legends of the Blindness Field in 2002.