[nfbmi-talk] Fw: [Brl-coordinators] FW: South Bend Tribune article on Dr. Maurer andthe Braille coin

[Mary Ann Rojek]

Here is an article that we can
feel proud of and good about.

Mary Ann

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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