[Nfbk] FW: South Bend Tribune article on Dr. Maurer and the Braille coin

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Subject: South Bend Tribune article on Dr. Maurer and the Braille coin


Blind Notre Dame grad to present Braille coin before game.
By MARGARET FOSMOE
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND - When the coin is tossed before today's Notre Dame-Navy game, it
won't involve any ordinary coin.

For the first time, a silver U.S. coin embossed with readable Braille will
be used.

One side features an image of Louis Braille, the French inventor of the
Braille reading and writing system for the blind, who was born 200 years
ago. The other side shows an image of a blind child reading Braille, and the
raised Braille letters B R L - signifying Braille's name.

The bicentennial silver dollar is being delivered to campus by Marc Maurer,
a 1974 University of Notre Dame graduate who is president of the National
Federation of the Blind.

Maurer, 58, of Baltimore, will present the coin for the toss before the
game.

The commemorative silver dollar was approved by Congress and released for
sale this year by the U.S. Mint.

It's the first commemorative U.S. coin to feature readable Braille.

The release of the coin was a milestone for the nation and its blind
citizens, Maurer said. "It shows the reading method for the blind is
valuable, and therefore the blind are valuable," he said.

Proceeds from sales of the coins go to the National Federation of the Blind
to fund literacy efforts among blind children in the United States.

Only 10 percent of American children today are learning Braille, Maurer
said. Not knowing Braille severely limits their ability to learn.

One problem is a shortage of teachers who are trained to teach Braille and
to teach students who use Braille, he said.

Maurer, a native of Iowa, was blinded as an infant when he received too much
oxygen after his premature birth. His mother, June Maurer, taught herself
Braille. Then she taught him to read and write in Braille during the summer
after he finished first grade.

"I started reading then, and I've been at it ever since," he said.

When Maurer enrolled at Notre Dame in 1970, he knew of no other blind
students on campus. He said he found the university open and welcoming,
students and faculty alike. "There was a general interest in finding ways
for me to learn," he said.

Maurer majored in liberal studies and was a member of the philosophy honor
society. To fulfill his physical education requirement, he took ice skating
lessons. After graduating, he went on to earn an Indiana University law
degree.

He and his wife, Patricia, also blind since birth, have been married for 36
years. They have two grown children.

Maurer on Thursday received the Rev. John J. Cavanaugh Award for outstanding
public service from the Notre Dame Alumni Association.


Tribune Photo/GENE KAISER
Marc Maurer, a 1974 University of Notre Dame graduate and president of the
National Federation of the Blind, displays a Louis Braille bicentennial
silver dollar identical to the one that will be used for the coin toss
before today's Notre Dame-Navy game.
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