In the fall of 2009, the National Federation of the Blind put out a call for Americans to write letters to President Barack Obama expressing the role that being able to read and write Braille plays in their lives. The NFB was flooded withresponses from a large variety of blind and sighted people¬from school children to working professionals to retired senior citizens. While there are great variances in the people who responded, one factor was the same: that Braille plays a vital role in their lives and is an important, and indeed necessary, tool for the blind.
We have compiled one hundred of these letters into a book intended to be presented to President Barack Obama. This morning, February 1, 2010, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan received the publication on behalf of the President at a ceremony at the United States Department of Education.
During the event, Secretary Duncan, other dignitaries from the Department of education, and leaders of the NFB heard from various speakers, including Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, two school children, and
a parent of a blind child. Fredric K. Schroeder, First Vice President of the NFB, presented the book and asked the Secretary to support the NFB's goal of doubling the number of school-age children reading Braille. Secretary Duncan left the event with the knowledge that Braille is vital to the independence of the blind. And he
left armed with the book that will give President Obama this knowledge as well.
Let Freedom Ring: Braille Letters to President Barack Obama is now available for you to read on the NFB Web site
Mark A. Riccobono
Executive Director, Jernigan Institute
National Federation of the Blind
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