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House approves coin to commemorate Braille

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House approves coin to commemorate Braille
February 28, 2006

WASHINGTON --Louis Braille, the inventor of the most widely used reading and writing method for the blind, would be featured on a commemorative U.S. silver dollar under a bill approved by the House on Tuesday.

Boston.com
Breaking News Alerts Under the bill, the U.S. Mint would issue 400,000 silver dollars commemorating Braille in 2009, the bicentennial of his birth. Funds raised from a $10 surcharge would go to the National Federation of the Blind to promote Braille literacy.

"Blind people today would be far less likely to achieve the goals of independence and productive living without the positive contribution of Louis Braille," said Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, a co-sponsor of the bill, which passed by voice vote.

The front of the coin would depict Braille, and the reverse would include the word "Braille" written in Braille code.

Braille, born outside Paris on Jan. 4, 1809, lost his sight in a childhood accident. He later built on a nighttime code used by the French Army to create the pattern of raised dots that is named after him.

Similar legislation introduced in the Senate earlier this month has 23 co-sponsors. This type of legislation requires 67 Senate co-sponsors, according to Senate Banking Committee spokesman Andrew Gray.

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Text of the legislation, H.R. 2872, can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/


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