[Nfbv-announce] FW: Abraham Nemeth to Serve as National Ambassador for Braille Literacy

[Fredric Schroeder]

  _____  

From: Freeh, Jessica [mailto:JFreeh at nfb.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 9:17 AM
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Subject: Abraham Nemeth to Serve as National Ambassador for Braille Literacy


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

CONTACT:

Chris Danielsen

Public Relations Specialist

National Federation of the Blind

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)

cdanielsen at nfb.org


Abraham Nemeth to Serve as 
National Ambassador for Braille Literacy


 

Baltimore, Maryland (December 23, 2008): The National Federation of the
Blind (NFB), the nation's leading advocate for Braille literacy, announced
today that Dr. Abraham Nemeth, professor emeritus of mathematics at the
University of Detroit Mercy and inventor of the Nemeth Braille Code for
Mathematics and Scientific Notation, will serve as a National Ambassador for
Braille literacy.  As an ambassador, Dr. Nemeth 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 Dr. Nemeth as part
of this historic initiative to bring Braille literacy to all of the blind
children and adults in America who need it.  Dr. Nemeth is a perfect example
of the power of Braille literacy.  As a blind mathematician, Dr. Nemeth
struggled to write notations in his doctoral program.  Rather than giving
up, Dr. Nemeth created a Braille system for his own use that is now the
standard mathematics code for the United States and known as the Nemeth
Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation.

 

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
brilliant inventors like Abraham Nemeth, 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."

 

Abraham Nemeth said: "It is an honor to serve as a National Ambassador for
the Braille Readers are Leaders campaign.  The importance of Braille
literacy cannot be overstated.  My knowledge of Braille has led me to places
I never dreamed possible, and allowed me to create opportunities for the
blind mathematicians of the future.  I believe that Braille readers can
accomplish anything they put their minds to and I hope to instill that
belief in all blind children and adults in this country."

 

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

 

 

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