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<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size=4><b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br>
</b></font><font face="Garamond"><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size=5> <br>
</font><font face="Garamond"><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica"><b>CONTACT:<br>
</b></font><font face="Garamond"><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">Chris Danielsen<br>
</font><font face="Garamond"><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">Director of Public
Relations<br>
</font><font face="Garamond"><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">National Federation of the
Blind<br>
</font><font face="Garamond"><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">(410) 659-9314, extension
2330<br>
</font><font face="Garamond"><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">(410) 262-1281 (Cell)<br>
</font><font face="Garamond"><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">
<a href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</a><br>
</font><font face="Garamond"><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size=5> <br>
</font><font face="Garamond"><br>
</font><div align="center"><h1><font size=4><b>National Federation of the
Blind Applauds <br>
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />New Jersey
Ruling on Braille Instruction for Blind Child</b></font></h1><br><br>
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<font face="Garamond"><br>
</font><div align="center"><h2><b>After Three-Year Battle, Hank Miller
Will Receive Braille Instruction</i></b></h2><br><br>
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<b>Oceanport, New Jersey (May 7, 2012):</b> After a three-year
administrative and legal battle against their local school board, the
Oceanport Board of Education, Jeffrey and Holly Miller obtained a ruling
(docket number: </font>2011 17218)<font face="Garamond"> from an
administrative law judge that their eleven-year-old son Henry “Hank”
Miller was improperly denied instruction in Braille, the reading and
writing code for the blind. The legal victory, obtained with the
assistance of the <a href="http://www.nfb.org/">National Federation of
the Blind</a> (NFB), comes on the heels of
</font>
<a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/Letter%20to%20Secretary%20Duncan%20re%20Braille%20Literacy.pdf">
<font face="Garamond" color="#800080">a letter from 26 U.S.
Senators</a></font><font face="Garamond"> urging the Department of
Education to take steps to ensure that blind children who need Braille
instruction receive it. <br><br>
<br><br>
</font>Holly and Jeffrey Miller brought the legal case on behalf of their
son, Hank, whom they adopted from China and who is blind due to albinism
and nystagmus. Hank has limited vision that allows him to read
enlarged print for short periods of time, but he is unable to read for
sustained periods of time. Although Hank’s parents continued to
tell school officials that their son was experiencing visual fatigue and
was having difficulty reading, the school board and its consultant, the
New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CBVI),
insisted that Hank was a proficient print reader, notwithstanding his
continued placement in a special resource room for language arts.
In a nearly ten-day hearing, held under the due process provisions of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, Mrs.
Miller testified that she watched Hank routinely struggle with his
homework, suffering from eye strain and fatigue, but was unable to
convince school officials or the CBVI that Hank needed Braille
instruction. She also testified that Hank’s schoolwork was not of
the same quantity and quality as that of his classmates. Although
experts from the school and the commission claimed that Hank was a
“visual learner” and should participate in the “sighted world,” experts
hired by the Millers and the NFB concluded after thorough assessment that
Hank could not read print for extended periods of time without eye
strain, neck and back pain, fatigue, and loss of reading speed and
comprehension. <br>
<font face="Garamond"><br>
</font> <br>
<font face="Garamond"><br>
</font>In her order, Administrative Law Judge Lisa James-Beavers<b>
</b>found that the school board and the commission displayed a clear
“bias against Braille.” She found that the school board and the
commission had failed to assess Hank’s “sustained reading ability” with
print, relying instead on reading assessments involving only brief
passages, and citing Hank’s alleged failure to complain about struggling
to read print. The judge was unconvinced by the board and CBVI’s
contention that Hank could rely on audio technology as reading demands
increased through his school years, noting that “as pointed out by all of
petitioners’ well-qualified experts, listening does not equate to
reading. One does not enhance the active skill of comprehending
text by passively listening, even if one is following along with the
reading.” The order noted that “the CBVI failed to do what
Oceanport relied on them to do, which is to help construct a program that
would give H.M. meaningful educational benefit considering H.M.’s future
needs.” Judge James-Beavers ordered that Hank Miller be provided
with Braille instruction for forty-five minutes, five days a week, and
that the school board provide compensatory instruction because of the
three years that Hank was not provided with Braille instruction, in the
form of intensive Braille summer programs or tutoring. <br>
<font face="Garamond"><br>
<br><br>
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said:
“Based on the experience of countless parents of blind children and blind
adults who had never learned Braille and have contacted us over the
years, the National Federation of the Blind has consistently argued that
blind children are being improperly assessed and denied Braille
instruction when it is clearly appropriate. Now after a thorough
and comprehensive examination of the evidence in Hank Miller’s case, an
independent judge has confirmed what we always knew. We hope that
school and agency officials across the nation take note of this landmark
ruling and commit to giving blind children access to Braille, the true
key to literacy for the vast majority of children who are blind or losing
vision. The National Federation of the Blind will continue to stand
with families like the Millers who find themselves pitted against the
educational establishment in obtaining the equal education to which their
children are entitled and which they deserve.”<br><br>
<br><br>
Holly Miller, Hank’s mother, said: “I am obviously thrilled with this
ruling, although I am still saddened that it took such a prolonged battle
to achieve it. I am stepping forward to tell Hank’s story in hopes
that other parents of blind children will not have to struggle as we
did. I thank the National Federation of the Blind and all of the
individuals and experts who came forward to assist in this case. I
plan to strongly and publicly advocate with the National Federation of
the Blind for Braille instruction for blind children.”<br><br>
<br><br>
The plaintiffs are represented in this matter by Sharon Krevor-Weisbaum
of the Baltimore firm Brown, Goldstein, and Levy, and Jayne M. Wesler of
the Cranbury firm Sussan and Greenwald.<br><br>
<br><br>
For more information about the National Federation of the Blind, please
visit <a href="http://www.nfb.org/">www.nfb.org</a>. For more
information about Braille, the reading and writing code for the blind,
please visit
<a href="http://www.braille.org/">www.braille.org</a>.<br><br>
<br><br>
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<br>
<div align="center"><b> <br>
</b></div>
<br>
<div align="center"><b> <br>
</b></div>
<br>
<b>About the National Federation of the Blind <br>
</b><br>
<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>
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