Michael
Collins and Newel Perry
to be
Inducted into the
Hall of
Fame for Leaders and Legends
of the
Blindness Field in 2014
The Hall of Fame is dedicated to preserving the tradition of
excellence manifested by specific individuals through the history of
outstanding services provided to people who are blind or visually impaired in
North America. It is housed at the American Printing House for the Blind (APH)
in Louisville, Kentucky, but belongs to all.
The ceremony to induct Collins and Perry will take place
on Friday evening, October 17, 2014, in conjunction with APH's 146th
Annual Meeting of Ex Officio Trustees and Special Guests, at the Hyatt Regency
Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. Joining the fifty-two
outstanding legends previously inducted, are these two remarkable figures who
changed lives around the world. Their stories of accomplishment are powerful.
The Class of 2014:
·
Michael T. Collins 1948 - 2008
Mike Collins dedicated 30 years of his
career to Perkins; first as supervisor of the Perkins School for the Blind’s campus-based Deafblind Program and
then as founder and director of the Hilton/Perkins International Program, with
the mission of training teachers to teach children who are deafblind with
multiple disabilities in developing countries. Under his leadership, the
program grew from serving a few hundred students to helping more than 10,000
children annually in 63 countries. He traveled to dozens of countries as a
"missionary" for children who are deafblind and blind with additional
disabilities working with education and government officials. He was, however,
most comfortable on a mat with students explaining to parents and teachers how
to help students achieve more than their families and teachers thought
possible. Before his extensive work in special education, Michael studied
theological studies at St. John's Seminary in Boston. He brought that care,
compassion and understanding with him to his work with students who are
deafblind.
Mr. Collins served as vice president and
president of Deafblind International and was a board member of the
International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment. He also
founded the National Coalition on Deafblindness. Collins received the
distinguished Perkins' Annie Sullivan Award and Deafblind International’s
Lifetime Achievement Award and their Distinguished Service Award.
"His
love for children with multiple disabilities and his deep understanding of
their needs was evident when he visited programs and dangled children on his
knee." Nandini Rawal, project director of the Blind People's Association
in Gujarat, India
· Newel Perry 1873 - 1963
Dr. Newel Perry was
called the father of the modern civil
rights movement of the blind. According to Matson (1990), Perry "presided
as mentor and godfather to the [organized blind] movement," spawning the California Council of the Blind (1934), the
National Federation of the Blind (1940) and the American Council of the Blind
(1961). In 1912, Dr. Perry took the post which would define his career,
Director of Advanced Studies at the
California School for the Blind, and was in this position until retirement in 1947. He is
best known for having mentored "Perry's Boys (and Girls)," a group of
talented blind young men and women who would, with Perry's assistance, begin
the organized blind movement of advocacy and civil rights.
Honors include:
California Council of the Blind, Hall of Fame, 1996 (original member),
California Council of the Blind’s Newel Perry Endowment Trust, the National
Federation of the Blind’s highest award – named for Newel Perry, and, within NFB's Jacobus
tenBroek Library, the Newel Perry Conference Room, appropriately named for
tenBroek's beloved mentor.
"Newel
Perry educated, indoctrinated and persuaded a distinguished group of cohorts to join him in carrying on the
struggle and carrying out its goals. Those
whom Doctor gathered around him were other blind men and women, mostly
former students whose special talents and professional positions uniquely
supplemented his." Jacobus tenBroek, 1961
When asked what was his
most important work, Dr. Perry answered, "Oh, my most important work was
my dragging the blind out of their sleep,
stirring them up, putting some ambition into them, and then helping
them."
__
Additional information regarding the 2014 Hall of Fame Induction
Ceremony will soon appear on the APH website, www.aph.org. Visit the Hall of Fame website at http://www.aph.org/hall/
for information on the Hall and those inducted.
