[Nfbf-l] Braille campaign attachments

Sat Feb 7 23:22:53 UTC 2009

Hello all,

I have been asked by several people where to find  materials to give out
about the history of Braille and the purchasing of the commemorative coin.
I've found some articles and websites I feel are very informative.  I
decided to send them to the lists.  After all, we have all year to honor
Louis Braille's bicentennial, and the coin will be released at the end of
March.  It can only be sold through Dec. 31, and then it's gone...no longer
available...poof!!  The coin can only be purchased from the Mint, so it's up
to us to spread the word to people who might like coin collecting, or know
those who do.  It would make a wonderful keepsake for a blind child as a
birthday or Christmas present.  Remember that the $10 surcharge on each coin
goes to the NFB for literacy projects.

I'd sure appreciate some feedback about the sites and materials, and I
welcome any suggestions or requests.

First, I want to tell you about the Canadian National Institute for the
Blind's Braille bicentennial website

www.braille200.ca/about.php

They have produced a short film with description entitled Young Heroes:
Louis Braille.  They have certainly brought him to life, for example,
showing the poignant scene where his father must leave young Louis at the
gloomy Institution for the Blind for the first time, and including a
dramatic scene where Louis steals into the school's library by himself, to
discover the school has only three books for its students.  This film would
probably be suited for    junior high kids through adults.  When you get to
the website, go down to: More about Louis Braille, and the second link Young
Heroes, An Educational Video, is The one you want.  There is more on the
site which I haven't looked at, but I really liked the film, which brought
tears to my eyes.  I hope you'll check it out.

I thought it would be good to give you a brief overview of the attachments.
The first one, a Louis Braille biography, is from the Braillebug wibsite of
the American Foundation for the Blind.  It's a wonderful site for sighted
children, grades 2 through 6, to learn and have fun with Braille.  There are
riddles, games, and a place where you can type your name, and your name in
Braille appears.  I'm attaching this site's Louis Braille Biography, which
is very brief, and for children of the age range I mentioned.  In the bio, I
tried to delete the extraneous links from the Braillebug site, but I can't
seem to do that.  So if you want to print this bio, make sure to have
someone who has some vision check it out.  It's really a great biography for
young children, and worth passing out at schools or bookstores.  There's
also a good Braille alphabet on this site, that is, in print, and when
printed out, it's more understandable for young kids than simply having a
Braille alphabet with tiny dots.  Of course the Braille alphabet card,
especially with a child's name written on it, is the perfect handout.  But
if you're doing a presentation, giving out the print version helps kids more
quickly see a pattern.  The link to this site is
www.aph.org/braillebug

Next, there's an article from the Parents of Blind Children's publication
Future Reflections, called Louis Braille Touched Us All, which is a lovely
tribute to Braille by blind writer Deborah Kendrick.  At the end, Future
Reflections has added information  about the commemorative coin.  A good
article to print and hand out.

The next article. Braille readers are Leaders Literacy Campaign, is from
NFB's special website, created for this year's campaign to promote Braille
literacy and also to promote the sale of the Louis Braille coin, available
for purchase starting March 26.  The link is
www.braille.org
It's an overview of what NFB hopes to accomplish  this year, and a
description of projects and programs designed to increase Braille literacy.
I hope you visit this site from time to time to learn what else our NFB is
doing

Quick Facts is also from the braille.org website, and is an important tool
for you to use when you are speaking to older children and adults about the
crisis in Braille literacy.  These are talking points which NFB wants us to
emphasize.

The last article is the Mint's announcement of the Braille coin.  I
previously sent it to the lists, but thought I'd include it again here for
your convenience.  It's a very good and exciting article, and has a detailed
description of what the coin looks like.  If you go to the Mint's website,
there is a picture of it.  I can't seem to get the exact URL, but it's easy
to access by just googling "mint Louis Braille coin".

I hope you find some of this material helpful and inspiring.

Sherrill

Sherrill
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