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ACTOR DANNY GLOVER PRESENTS AWARD
TO CHULA VISTA, CA RESIDENT AT NYC GALA, 4/30
photo
of Michelle Bruns
Student who is Blind Honored for Academic
Achievement
PRINCETON, NJ (April 30, 2001)
- Award-winning actor Danny Glover presented Chula Vista, CA resident
Michelle Bruns with the prestigious Mary P. Oenslager Scholastic
Achievement Award (SAA) at Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic's
(RFB&D) National Achievement Awards gala tonight at the Essex
House in New York City. RFB&D (www.rfbd.org) is the largest national
nonprofit organization providing taped textbooks to students of
all ages who cannot effectively read standard print because of
a disability including visual impairment, dyslexia or another
physical disability.
Bruns is one of three top
winners of a $6,000 national SAA. The awards are presented annually
to blind college seniors who have demonstrated superior scholarship,
leadership, enterprise and service to others.
A member of RFB&D since 1990,
she has borrowed about 130 books. Bruns, a graduate of New Mexico
School for the Visually Handicapped in Alamogordo, NM, graduated
from University of Mary Hardin - Baylor in Belten, TX in May,
2000 with a 3.85 GPA and a major in social work/minor in sociology.
At the university, she was a member of Pi Gamma Mu and Gamma Beta
Phi academic societies and earned numerous scholarships. Listed
in Who's Who Among American College Students, Bruns also was an
intern at Southland Villa Nursing Home, a college newspaper journalist
and has been involved in student government, holding the offices
of president and secretary. In addition, she has held leadership
positions on various cheerleading, dance and gymnastics squads
and teams. When she first became blind, Bruns was uncertain about
her future.
"The thought of using a cane/guide
dog, adaptive equipment and admitting that I was blind absolutely
horrified me," she admits. Bruns acknowledges that technology
is "a wonderful innovation that has allowed blind persons more
access to printed materials." But, she says, "in my opinion, nothing
is better than a textbook on tape. Not only can one be mobile
with the material that must be read, but also textbooks on tape
allow students, such as myself, to be more flexible, similar to
my sighted colleagues who can carry their books and journal around
with them. "RFB&D's service has given me the ability to concentrate
on learning and absorbing material rather than worrying about
how I will read printed books. Because this burden has been lifted
off me, and placed on RFB&D, my entire college career has been
improved."
Bruns' career aspiration as
an advocate and lobbyist for needy children stemmed from her congressional
internship with Christopher J. Dodd and work with the subcommittee
on families and children in Washington, D.C. She is presently
pursuing a master's degree in social work at Tulane University
in New Orleans, LA. Bruns is also writing a fictional novel addressing
issues faced by blind teenagers. "My dream is to get this novel
published, so that more people can be educated about issues pertaining
to blindness. I hope that this book will clear away some of the
negative stereotypes and the web of misconception that society
has woven about blind people."
Nationwide, RFB&D has over
91,000 members in kindergarten through graduate school and beyond,
including more than 8,300 students in California. RFB&D taped
textbooks are read and recorded by more than 5,700 highly trained
volunteers working in 32 studios around the country, including
studios in Carpinteria, El Segundo, Hollywood, Reseda, Palo Alto,
Santa Barbara, Upland and Santa Ana, CA. RFB&D's master library
in Princeton, NJ, houses over 83,000 textbook titles in every
subject and grade level. Last year, RFB&D circulated a quarter
of a million accessible textbooks among its members.
additional media inquiries:
RFB&D News Desk 1-800-803-7201, press 6
media e-mail inquiries
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