Press Release

RECORDING FOR THE BLIND & DYSLEXIC® OBSERVES VETERANS DAY AND ITS OWN HISTORY BY HONORING THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE MILITARY

November 10, 2005 (Princeton, NJ) - After Army veteran Michael Somsan of Tucson, Arizona, lost his vision as the result of a shooting near Fort Hood, Texas, he faced the prospect of never again reading a book or sitting in a college classroom. Although the GI Bill provides tuition assistance to veterans seeking a college education, blindness and other visual impairments make it difficult or impossible for Somsan and others to read standard textbooks.

Nearly 60 years ago, Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D®) was founded to help change that. Known simply as Recording for the Blind® (RFB®), the national nonprofit organization got its start in an attic space at the Yorkville branch of the New York Public Library when New Yorker Anne Macdonald convened the library's Ladies Auxiliary to begin recording textbooks on a request-by-request basis. Since then, RFB&D has given Somsan and other students with print disabilities such as dyslexia equal access to the printed word and an education.

"RFB&D's services have been very helpful in giving me back some of my independence," says Somsan. "I have always enjoyed reading books and, when I went blind, it was disheartening not being able to read on my own. Having access to recorded textbooks gives a person great independence and hope."

The 35-year-old Somsan shows no signs of slowing down. Using a sighted guide, he was able to learn how to downhill ski the Rocky Mountains at the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. According to Somsan, skiing, like recorded textbooks, makes him "feel independent and develop self-confidence."

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there are upwards of 150,000 blinded U.S. veterans and more than a million who are classified as low vision. In addition, the Paralyzed Veterans of America estimates there are 100,000 veterans with a spinal cord injury or disease. This Veterans Day, RFB&D gratefully acknowledges the service of all veterans, and continues to provide recorded textbooks to the men and women whose blindness or learning and physical disabilities would otherwise deny them equal access to the printed word.

RFB&D serves more than 141,000 students from kindergarten through graduate school and beyond with its one-of-a-kind collection of more than 109,000 educational titles on CD or four-track cassette. RFB&D's AudioPlus® digitally recorded textbooks on CD provide unprecedented navigation, ease of use and proven effectiveness as learning tools for students with print disabilities. Students rely on RFB&D's unique accommodation to access the printed page and to achieve educational success. All of RFB&D's accessible titles are recorded by volunteers working in 29 recording studios nationwide.

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