[Nfbnet-members-list] FW: National Federation of the Blind Announces 2016 Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards

[Kuhnke, Kristian]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



CONTACT:
John G. Paré, Jr.
Executive Director for Advocacy and Policy
National Federation of the Blind
410-659-9314, ext. 2218
410-917-1965 (Cell)
<mailto:jpare at nfb.org>jpare at nfb.org

National Federation of the Blind Announces 2016 Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards



Baltimore, Maryland (November 20, 2015): The 
National Federation of the Blind (NFB) announced 
today that applications are now being accepted 
for the <https://nfb.org/bolotin-award-main>2016 
Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award Program. Each year the 
NFB presents cash awards to individuals and 
organizations that have demonstrated exemplary 
leadership and extraordinary accomplishments in 
improving the lives of blind people in the United States.



Dr. Jacob Bolotin was a blind physician who lived 
and practiced in Chicago in the early twentieth 
century. He was widely known and respected in 
Chicago and throughout the Midwest during his 
career, which spanned the period from 1912 until 
his untimely death at the age of thirty-six in 
1924. He was particularly recognized for his 
expertise on diseases of the heart and lungs. 
Bolotin used his many public speaking engagements 
to advocate for the employment of the blind and 
their full integration into society.



Mark A. Riccobono, President of the National 
Federation of the Blind, said: “Dr. Jacob Bolotin 
was a pioneer who overcame low expectations and 
discrimination to become a renowned member of the 
medical profession without the benefit of the 
support services and civil rights protections 
available to blind people today. He was also a 
fierce advocate for greater opportunity for the 
blind in his time, and doubtless would have been 
a leader in the organized blind movement had he 
lived to see it come into being. The Dr. Jacob 
Bolotin Award Program celebrates his pioneering 
spirit by recognizing and supporting outstanding 
programs, technologies, and individual efforts 
that help blind Americans live the lives we want. 
Our previous winners represent projects and 
achievements of outstanding merit consistent with 
Dr. Bolotin’s legacy, and we look forward to 
honoring more trailblazers this year.”



Recipients of the 2016 Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards 
will be determined by the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award 
Committee of the National Federation of the 
Blind. Applications are due by April 15, 2016. 
Individuals or organizations are encouraged to 
apply on behalf of themselves or others. The 
award recipients will be announced at the 
<https://nfb.org/convention>2016 NFB National Convention in Orlando.



The Jacob Bolotin Award Program is funded through 
the generosity of Dr. Bolotin’s nephew and niece, 
Alfred and Rosalind Pearlman. In addition to 
establishing the Alfred and Rosalind Pearlman 
Trust to endow the awards, the late Mrs. Pearlman 
also wrote The Blind Doctor: The Jacob Bolotin 
Story. The book is available through the National 
Federation of the Blind. For more information or 
to fill out 
<https://nfb.org/application-information>the 
online application, please visit <http://www.nfb.org/>http://www.nfb.org/.





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About the National Federation of the Blind



The National Federation of the Blind knows that 
blindness is not the characteristic that defines 
you or your future. Every day we raise the 
expectations of blind people, because low 
expectations create obstacles between blind 
people and our dreams. You can live the life you 
want; blindness is not what holds you back.



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