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<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size=4><b>FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE<br><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size=5> <br><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">CONTACT:<br><br>
</b>Chris Danielsen<br><br>
Director of Public Relations<br><br>
National Federation of the Blind<br><br>
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330<br><br>
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)<br><br>
<a href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</a> <br><br>
<br><br>
</font><div align="center"><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size=4><b>
National Federation of the Blind Congratulates<br>
Blind Driver Experience Participants<br><br>
</font></div>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica"> <br><br>
Baltimore, Maryland (June 24, 2011):</b> The National Federation of the
Blind (NFB), the</font><font face="Garamond"> oldest and largest
nationwide organization of blind
people,</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica"> today congratulated the
thirty people who won the honor of participating in the Blind Driver
Experience. </font><font face="Garamond">On Tuesday, July 5, from
1–6:00 p.m., as part of the NFB National Convention in Orlando, the
winners will get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ride in the Blind
Driver Challenge™ car equipped with nonvisual technology (the same car
that was driven on the famed Daytona International Speedway on January
29, 2011). <br><br>
<br><br>
The participants of the Blind Driver Experience will be driven in the
official Blind Driver Challenge™ vehicle by Mark Riccobono, executive
director of the NFB Jernigan Institute, and the first blind person to
drive a street vehicle in public. <br><br>
<br><br>
The Blind Driver Experience is an initiative of the NFB Imagination Fund,
which supports the education, technology, and research projects of the
NFB Jernigan Institute, as well as programs conducted by the fifty-two
affiliates and over seven-hundred local chapters of the Federation.
<br><br>
<br><br>
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said:
“We greatly appreciate the hard work of our Blind Driver Experience
participants, as well as our other Imagination Fund contributors.
With their help, we are able to create innovative research, training,
education, and technology programs that improve the lives of the blind
and move us closer to our ultimate goal of full integration into society
on a basis of equality.”<br><br>
<br><br>
Parnell Diggs, chairman of the Imagination Fund, said: “We congratulate
our Blind Driver Experience participants, and thank them for a job well
done. It is vital that we raise the funds we need to operate the
programs of the National Federation of the Blind. Those who
registered to be Imaginators and raised at least $1,000 by June 15 have
our gratitude." <br><br>
<br><br>
The top ten individuals in overall dollars raised as of June 15 were
automatically selected to participate in the Blind Driver
Experience. The remaining twenty spots were drawn at random from
the pool of individuals who raised at least $1,000 for the Imagination
Fund by June 15, and who plan to be in attendance at the
convention. Each individual winner is invited to bring three
guests, and if for some reason a winner cannot participate, the ride is
transferable. <br><br>
<br><br>
The Blind Driver Experience winners are listed below:<br><br>
<br><br>
Top Ten
<ol>
<li>John Paré (MD)
<li>Mary Ellen Jernigan (MD)
<li>Parnell Diggs (SC)
<li>Jack & Pat Munson (CA)
<li>Patti Gregory-Chang (IL)
<li>Ann-Marie Laney (MD)
<li>Joe Ruffalo (NJ)
<li>Dwight Sayer (FL)
<li>Lindsay Adair (TX)
<li>Scott LaBarre (CO)
</ol><br>
Eleven through thirty were drawn and announced Wednesday evening on
<i>ThruOurEyes </i>with Joe Ruffalo.<br><br>
<ol>
<li>Ever Lee Hairston (CA)
<li>C. Edwin Vaughan (CA)
<li>Denise Avant (IL)
<li>Gary & Debbie Wunder (MO)
<li>Kim Diggs (SC)
<li>William Jacobs (MD)
<li>Debra Canty (SC)
<li>Dan Burke (MT)
<li>Carl & Mindy Jacobsen (NY)
<li>Patricia Maurer (MD)
<li>Barbara Pierce (OH)
<li>Kathleen Byrd (NM)
<li>Anthony Cobb (MD)
<li>Garrick Scott (GA)
<li>Dr. & Mrs. Capps (SC)
<li>Mark Riccobono (MD)
<li>Ed Morman (MD)
<li>Julaine Arient-Rollman (SD)
<li>Kayleigh Joiner (TX)
<li>Kimberly Flores (TX)
</ol><br>
<br><br>
For more information about the Blind Driver Experience, please visit
<a href="http://www.blinddriverchallenge.org/">
www.blinddriverchallenge.org</a>. <br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
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<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size=5> <br><br>
<br><br>
</font><font face="Garamond"><b>About the National Federation of the
Blind<br><br>
</b> <br><br>
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.<br><br>
<br>
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