Austin, Texas (July 8, 2026): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has presented fifty thousand dollars in cash awards to individuals and organizations that are a positive force in the lives of blind people and whose work advances the goal of helping transform their dreams into reality. At the National Federation of the Blind 2026 Convention, the nineteenth annual Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards honored five individuals and organizations who are helping blind people live the lives they want.

Awards of five thousand dollars each went to the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired Curriculum Department for innovative Braille and blindness skills teaching tools and the Inspirational Three Foundation (I3s) for outstanding support to seniors losing eyesight in the Washington, DC area. Ten thousand dollars each was awarded to AccessTrader, an accessible app designed specifically to allow blind investors to manage their portfolios, and to the Tactile Art Collective, a group of teachers working to develop techniques for teaching artistic expression and tactile literacy to blind people.

The top award of twenty thousand dollars was given to Dr. Angela Frederick, author of the book Disabled Power: A Storm, a Grid, and Embodied Harm in the Age of Disaster (NYU Press, 2025), which chronicles the effects of the 2021 winter storm Uri on the blind and disabled communities throughout Texas. The award recognizes both the contribution to disability and climate literature—documenting both the disproportionate harm experienced by and the resilience and adaptability of the blind and others—and Dr. Frederick’s continuing research into centering the blind and others with disabilities in discussions of preparation for climate emergencies.   

Dr. Jacob W. Bolotin (1888-1924) was the world’s first physician who was blind from birth. He achieved that goal despite the tremendous challenges faced by blind people in his time. Not only did he realize his own dream, but he also went on to mentor and motivate many others. 

"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,” said Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind. “He did this largely by innovating his own solutions to the barriers he faced. The National Federation of the Blind is proud to honor the memory and spirit of Dr. Bolotin by recognizing and financially supporting those individuals and organizations who are also breaking through the barriers created by low expectations and doing exceptional work to help achieve the shared dream of Dr. Bolotin and the Federation—a society in which the blind, like all other Americans, can pursue their goals and live the lives they want."

The Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards Program is funded in part through the generosity of Dr. Bolotin’s late nephew and niece-in-law, Alfred and Rosalind Perlman, who established a trust in their names to endow the awards. Income from the Alfred and Rosalind Perlman Trust is distributed to the National Federation of the Blind and the Santa Barbara Foundation to help administer the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards Program. For more information about the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards Program—including more about this year’s winners, as well as eligibility criteria and application procedures—please visit www.nfb.org/bolotin.