[blparent] Michael Hingson to Serve as National Ambassador for Braille Literacy

[Freeh, Jessica]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



CONTACT:

Chris Danielsen

Public Relations Specialist

National Federation of the Blind

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)

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



Michael Hingson to Serve as National Ambassador for Braille Literacy



Baltimore, Maryland (November 24, 2008): The 
National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the 
nation’s leading advocate for Braille literacy, 
announced today that Michael Hingson, World Trade 
Center survivor and internationally acclaimed 
public speaker, will serve as a National 
Ambassador for Braille literacy.  As an 
ambassador, Michael 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 minted 
in 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 
Michael Hingson as part of this historic 
initiative to bring Braille literacy to all of 
the blind children and adults in America who need 
it.  As a unique keynote and inspirational 
speaker, as well as a user of Braille, Michael 
will certainly be an enormous asset in spreading 
the importance of Braille literacy to the 
masses.  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 
Michael Hingson, 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.”



Michael Hingson said: “It is an honor to serve as 
a National Ambassador for the Braille Readers are 
Leaders campaign.  Braille is the only viable 
means for both reading and writing by blind 
persons and the only true alternative to printed 
matter.  I would never have been able to learn to 
read and write, much less be successful in the 
work place, if I hadn't learned to use 
Braille.  As a public speaker and living proof of 
the power of Braille, I am dedicated to helping 
the National Federation of the Blind to inspire 
children and adults across the country to learn Braille.”



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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