WASHINGTON - Congress has authorized the U.S. Mint to produce a silver dollar commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, the creator of the Braille alphabet for the blind.
The legislation, which passed the Senate on Thursday after receiving approval in the House in February, authorizes the Mint to issue up to 400,000 silver-dollar commemorative coins in 2009. Braille was born in France in 1809.
The coins will feature Louis Braille's image and raised dots that will spell out "Brl," the contraction for Braille. The Alabama quarter, in the 50-state quarter series, features an image of Helen Keller with her name in English and also in Braille.
Under the legislation, a $10 surcharge will be added to each coin, with money from the coin sales going to support programs to help the blind.
The National Federation of the Blind said that it will match the money raised through the coin sales with its own fundraising efforts to support Braille literacy programs.
Sen. Christopher Dodd (news, bio, voting record), D-Conn., who sponsored the Senate bill along with Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., said the coin sales would help spread the benefits of teaching the Braille system.
"We need to ensure that more people — blind and sighted — are educated and well aware of Braille's amazing system and the vast benefits associated with it," Dodd said in a statement.
The Braille reading system uses different formations of raised dots to denote different letters of the alphabet.
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On the Net:
U.S. Mint: http://www.usmint.gov
National Federation of the Blind: http://www.nfb.org
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060630/ap_on_go_co/braille_coin
The legislation, which passed the Senate on Thursday after receiving approval in the House in February, authorizes the Mint to issue up to 400,000 silver-dollar commemorative coins in 2009. Braille was born in France in 1809.
The coins will feature Louis Braille's image and raised dots that will spell out "Brl," the contraction for Braille. The Alabama quarter, in the 50-state quarter series, features an image of Helen Keller with her name in English and also in Braille.
Under the legislation, a $10 surcharge will be added to each coin, with money from the coin sales going to support programs to help the blind.
The National Federation of the Blind said that it will match the money raised through the coin sales with its own fundraising efforts to support Braille literacy programs.
Sen. Christopher Dodd (news, bio, voting record), D-Conn., who sponsored the Senate bill along with Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., said the coin sales would help spread the benefits of teaching the Braille system.
"We need to ensure that more people — blind and sighted — are educated and well aware of Braille's amazing system and the vast benefits associated with it," Dodd said in a statement.
The Braille reading system uses different formations of raised dots to denote different letters of the alphabet.
___
On the Net:
U.S. Mint: http://www.usmint.gov
National Federation of the Blind: http://www.nfb.org
----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060630/ap_on_go_co/braille_coin