[nfbwatlk] Hall of Fame

Sun May 25 23:49:38 UTC 2014

May 2014

Michael Collins and Newel Perry

to be Inducted into the 

Hall of Fame for Leaders and Legends

Of the Blindness Field in 2014

The Hall of Fame is dedicated to preserving the tradition of excellence
manifested by specific individuals through the history of outstanding
services provided to people who are blind or visually impaired in North
America. It is housed at the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) in
Louisville, Kentucky, but belongs to all.

The ceremony to induct Collins and Perry, will take place on Friday evening,
October 17, 2014, in conjunction with APH's 146th Annual Meeting of Ex
Officio Trustees and Special Guests, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in
Louisville, Kentucky.  Joining the fifty-two outstanding legends previously
inducted, are these two remarkable figures who changed lives around the
world. Their stories of accomplishment are powerful.

The Class of 2014:

*        Michael T. Collins  1948 - 2008

Mike Collins dedicated 30 years of his career to Perkins; first as
supervisor of the Perkins School for the Blind's campus-based Deafblind
Program and then as founder and director of the Hilton/Perkins International
Program, with the mission of training teachers to teach children who are
deafblind with multiple disabilities in developing countries. Under his
leadership, the program grew from serving a few hundred students to helping
more than 10,000 children annually in 63 countries. He traveled to dozens of
countries as a "missionary" for children who are deafblind and blind with
additional disabilities working with education and government officials. He
was, however, most comfortable on a mat with students explaining to parents
and teachers how to help students achieve more than their families and
teachers thought possible. Before his extensive work in special education,
Michael studied theological studies at St. John's Seminary in Boston. He
brought that care, compassion and understanding with him to his work with
students who are deafblind.

Mr. Collins served as vice president and president of Deafblind
International and was a board member of the International Council for
Education of People with Visual Impairment. He also founded the National
Coalition on Deafblindness. Collins received the distinguished Perkins'
Annie Sullivan Award and Deafblind International's Lifetime Achievement
Award and their Distinguished Service Award. 

"His love for children with multiple disabilities and his deep understanding
of their needs was evident when he visited programs and dangled children on
his knee." Nandini Rawaf, project director of the Blind People's Association
in Gujarat, India

*        Newel Perry  1873 - 1963

Dr. Newel Perry was called the father of the modern civil rights movement of
the blind. According to Matson (1990), Perry "presided as mentor and
godfather to the [organized blind] movement," spawning the California
Council of the Blind (1934), the National Federation of the Blind (1940) and
the American Council of the Blind (1961). In 1912, Dr. Perry took the post
which would define his career, Director of Advanced Studies at the
California School for the Blind, and was in this position until retirement
in 1947. He is best known for having mentored "Perry's Boys (and Girls)," a
group of talented blind young men and women who would, with Perry's
assistance, begin the organized blind movement of advocacy and civil rights.

Honors include: California Council of the Blind, Hall of Fame, 1996
(original member), California Council of the Blind's Newel Perry Endowment
Trust, the National Federation of the Blind's highest award - named for
Newel Perry, and, within NFB's Jacobus tenBroek Library, the Newel Perry
Conference Room, appropriately named for tenBroek's beloved mentor.

"Newel Perry educated, indoctrinated and persuaded a distinguished group of
cohorts to join him in carrying on the struggle and carrying out its goals.
Those whom Doctor gathered around him were other blind men and women, mostly
former students whose special talents and professional positions uniquely
supplemented his." Jacobus tenBroek, 1961

When asked what was his most important work, Dr. Perry answered, "Oh, my
most important work was my dragging the blind out of their sleep, stirring
them up, putting some ambition into them, and then helping them."

__

Additional information regarding the 2014 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
will soon appear on the APH website,  <http://www.aph.org> www.aph.org.
Visit the Hall of Fame website at  <http://www.aph.org/hall_fame/index.html>
http://www.aph.org/hall_fame/index.html for information on the Hall and
those inducted.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

The Hall of Fame Voluntary Governing Board:

Jane Erin (AZ), Chair 

Ann MacCuspie (CAN), Secretary 

Janie Blome (KY), Treasurer 

Billy Brookshire (TX) 

Mike Cole (CA)

Greg Goodrich (CA)

John Maxson (CA)

Rosanne Silberman (NY)

Diane Wormsley (NC) 

Jim Deremeik, (MD) Past Chair 

Questions?  Please contact Bob Brasher, Hall Curator, at 800/223-1839, ext.
369 or  <mailto:bbrasher at aph.org> bbrasher at aph.org.

 Thank you.

Hall of Fame: Leaders and Legends of the Blindness Field is a project of the
entire field of blindness, curated by the American Printing House for the
Blind, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

  _____  

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Becky Frankeberger

Butterfly Knitting

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