[Blindtlk] Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to Serve as Honorary Co-chair of Braille Literacy Campaign

[Freeh, Jessica]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



CONTACT:

Chris Danielsen

Director of Public Relations

National Federation of the Blind

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)

<mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>cdanielsen at nfb.org



Governor Martin O'Malley to Serve as
Honorary Co-chair of Braille Literacy Campaign



Baltimore, Maryland (March 19, 2009): The 
National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the 
nation’s leading advocate for Braille literacy, 
announced today that Maryland Governor Martin 
O'Malley will serve as an honorary co-chair of 
the NFB’s Braille literacy campaign.  As a 
co-chair, Governor O'Malley will help advance the 
NFB’s Braille Readers are Leaders campaign, a 
national initiative to promote the importance of 
reading and writing Braille for blind children 
and adults.  The Braille Readers are Leaders 
campaign kicked off in July of 2008 with the 
unveiling of the design of a commemorative coin 
to be released on March 26, 2009, in recognition 
of the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of 
Louis Braille (1809–1852), the inventor of the 
reading and writing code for the blind that bears his name.



Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National 
Federation of the Blind, said: “The National 
Federation of the Blind is pleased to have 
Governor O'Malley as part of this historic 
initiative to bring Braille literacy to all of 
the blind children and adults in America who need 
it.  As the respected governor of the fine state 
of Maryland, home to the headquarters of the 
National Federation of the Blind, Governor 
O'Malley will be an invaluable asset in reaching 
out to the citizens of Maryland to share his 
belief in Braille literacy.  There can be no 
doubt that the ability to read and write Braille 
competently and efficiently is the key to 
education, employment, and success for the 
blind.  Despite the undisputed value of Braille, 
however, only about 10 percent of blind children 
in the United States are currently learning 
it.  Society would never accept a 10 percent 
literacy rate among sighted children; it should 
not accept such an outrageously low literacy rate 
among the blind.  The Braille Readers are Leaders 
campaign, with the support of influential 
Americans like Governor O'Malley, will reverse 
the downward trend in Braille literacy and ensure 
that equal opportunities in education and 
employment are available to all of the nation’s blind.”



Governor Martin O'Malley said: “I am honored and 
pleased to serve as an honorary co-chair of the 
Braille Readers are Leaders campaign.  I have 
worked with the National Federation of the Blind 
many times, and I truly believe in its mission to 
bring literacy to all blind children and 
adults.  Blind people have the same right to 
literacy as everyone else and I am eager to 
participate in the campaign to accomplish this mission.”



For more information about the Braille Readers 
are Leaders campaign and the Louis Braille 
commemorative coin, please visit <http://www.braille.org/>www.braille.org.





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About the National Federation of the Blind

With more than 50,000 members, the National 
Federation of the Blind is the largest and most 
influential membership organization of blind 
people in the United States.  The NFB improves 
blind people’s lives through advocacy, education, 
research, technology, and programs encouraging 
independence and self-confidence.  It is the 
leading force in the blindness field today and 
the voice of the nation's blind.  In January 2004 
the NFB opened the National Federation of the 
Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and 
training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.