American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Convention Issue 2025 AWARDS
The Eighteenth Annual Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards
Presented by Everette Bacon
From the Editor: Everette Bacon is second vice president of the National Federation of the Blind, and he serves as the third chair of the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award Committee. Until 2008, most of us had never heard of Dr. Jacob W. Bolotin (1888-1924), although he was a well-known figure in Chicago and throughout the Midwest in his time. To our knowledge, he was the first medical doctor who was born blind. Each year, in collaboration with the Alfred and Rosalind Perlman Trust and the Santa Barbara Foundation, we are pleased to present awards in his honor. Here is the presentation that Everette led as the first item on the final general session agenda.
Everette Bacon: For eighteen years now, we have been recognizing accomplishments in the many fields pertaining to blindness. I say fields because there are many aspects to being a blind person and many different ways that people can achieve in the blindness field. Let’s think about some of them: Braille, cane travel, independent living, access technology. Those are just some of the aspects of blindness. So many of them exist out there and there are so many different accomplishments that blind people are doing.
Now, let’s think about what blind people are doing outside the fields of blindness, whether that be architecture, whether that be medicine, whether that be space travel. That’s what the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award recognizes. Dr. Jacob Bolotin, the first ever blind doctor that we are aware of, accomplished many things in his very short life. I always like to recognize one of those things. He wanted to go to college. He was a smart man. He knew he could do great things in college, and he wanted to go to college and eventually to medical school. He was immediately told, “No, no, we can’t get you into college.” He kept persevering, he kept fighting, trying again. Eventually he was given an opportunity. He went to college, and from there he was told by professor after professor, “No, we can’t accommodate you.” “No, you can’t.” “We don’t have any way for you to do your schoolwork.” And he figured out ways to do it. He figured out ways to make his books accessible. He figured out ways to do the work in order to get where he needed to go. Eventually he became an administrator at a hospital in the Chicago area, leading the way in blindness and as a medical doctor. So, this is a pretty awesome award, and it’s a pretty awesome thing to be recognized in this way.
I’m very honored to be a part of the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award process and to chair the award committee. I followed in the footsteps of two outstanding chairs, Gary Wunder and James Gashel, two people that I very much recognize and honor. I have an outstanding committee that works with me on the Bolotin Awards. Mrs. Mary Ellen Jernigan is part of that committee. Dr. Natalie Shaheen is part of that committee. Steve Jacobson is part of that committee. Donald Porterfield is part of that committee, and Jessica Beecham is part of that committee. We reviewed more than fifty nominations. So, thank you so much for all of your nominations out there. We came up with four finalists this year. I want you to learn about these finalists. So, Will, let’s roll the video.
[During the following presentation, names and logos of organizations appear on screen as they are mentioned, and pictures of individuals appear as they speak.]
Narrator: Federationists and guests, the National Federation of the Blind is proud to introduce the recipients of our eighteenth annual Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards, made possible in part by the generous support of the Alfred and Rosalind Perlman Trust and the Santa Barbara Foundation. These winners have broken down barriers faced by blind people in innovative ways, changed negative perceptions of blindness and blind people, and pushed past existing boundaries to motivate blind people to achieve new heights. The 2025 winners are: Mika Baugh, for the Sexual Health Education Research and Training Initiative specifically designed for blind people.
Mika Baugh: Certainly, I appreciate the support of the committee and of the blind community for myself and the work that I’m doing here. But I think on a larger scale, I am so grateful for the investment that we are putting into this area. It is tough, right? It’s not as easy as saying we need to learn about science or we need to get jobs or we need to have access to Braille, which are certainly all very important things. This is a little bit more of a sensitive area. It’s a high-priority area, but it’s hard. So, I’m so proud of us as a community for investing in this education, and also in this research so we can learn how blind people can drive educational opportunities, whether it’s sexual health education or any other kind of education as well.
Narrator: Lee Martin for the National Federation of the Blind Newsline Indiana television show, which he produces and co-hosts.
Lee Martin: I would like to see our initiative with this programming extend itself to our youth, to get them involved more in journalism, to get them involved in media or television. It has a lot of challenges, but they’re good challenges to overcome.
Narrator: Casey Robertson for her tireless and groundbreaking work to teach Braille to teachers and paraprofessionals as well as blind children.
Casey Robertson: Literacy is my love, and if everyone else has access to literacy, then so should blind people. I have made it my life’s work to make sure that we can teach people Braille in the best possible way. One of the myths we always hear is that Braille is hard. That is not true.
Narrator: Sam Seavey for his Blind Life YouTube channel demonstrating access technology and emphasizing blind people living the lives we want.
Sam Seavey: My channel is mostly known for assistive technology. It’s one of the top resources for assistive technology information pretty much anywhere. But I also like to focus on the life side of the blind life. And so, I love to get out and interview amazing people in our community or amazing people working with our community or amazing companies that are helping to further accessibility and advocacy within our community. And so, I think the award will help me do that much better.
Narrator: Each of these winners will receive a trophy and a monetary prize to advance their work to help blind people live the lives we want. Now, the National Federation of the Blind proudly presents them with their Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards.
Everette Bacon: All right, that sounds like some pretty exciting award winners, doesn’t it? Yes. All right. Well, let’s learn a little bit more about them. The first award that I want to give out is to the NFB-NEWSLINE® Indiana television show. For over a decade, this blind-hosted television show has reached over seven million viewers and listeners. NFB-NEWSLINE® Indiana has been on the air for over ten years now and has interviewed many blind dignitaries including President Riccobono, Dr. Marc Maurer, and Pam Allen, just to name a few. Many state and local legislators and officials have been guests. They have been proud to tackle the critical issues facing blind people in Indiana and throughout the United States. I am excited to award this Bolotin Award to Lee Martin and Diane Graves of Indiana for their outstanding achievements, and also to honor them with a $5,000 award. We’re going to hear for a few minutes from Lee—and here’s your award, sir. Thank you so very much.
Lee Martin: I’d like to give honor to my Heavenly Father for this opportunity. There are so many other individuals that I need to acknowledge, but the chairman told me I only had a minute or two minutes, so I’ll just give my acknowledgements. I had to keep this a secret from my affiliate members and a lot of family. Mr. Bacon, the chairman, told me that you had to keep this a secret. So, I went back to my military days. If you’re ever captured you just say your name, rank, and serial number, and that’s what I did. So, now I want to thank our national President. I want to thank Dr. Maurer for all the encouragement that he’s provided over the years. He doesn’t realize how much of an impact he’s had on my life. I want to thank or acknowledge my president for a number of years in the state of Indiana and his lovely wife, Mr. Ron and Jean Brown. I’d also like to give acknowledgements to my better half, Ms. Pamela Martin, for enduring and endearing with me over the years. My co-host, Ms. Florence Myers. We’ve both worked pretty diligently over the past ten to twelve years during this project. Serving and service is our initiative. So, I am very thankful to be able to serve. There is so much that we can do, so much that you can do! I never thought I would be up here at this podium saying anything to Federation family from across the country. And I say to each of you, be innovative, be inclusive, be collaborative, and be dedicated to the movement. And also, as you move forward, as Dr. Jernigan was saying, bridging gaps of visible differences as you live the life you want. So, find your niche in the organization. Continue to serve and understand that God is our refuge. Take good care, and God bless you.
Everette Bacon: All right, thank you so much, Lee. Our next award recipient, Sam Seavey and TheBlindLife.net. TheBlindLife.net, created and founded by Sam Seavey, offers a comprehensive resource guide for the blind and low-vision community through YouTube channels and podcasts. Sam shares personal experiences with blindness, provides in-depth reviews of access technology, and offers practical tips of independent living. Overall, the platform aims to inspire and inform the blind and low-vision community with a positive message and a humorous approach. The Blind Life is such a comprehensive resource guide, and it has such a widespread following that numerous technology companies pay to have their products featured on The Blind Life. Heather Looney and eighteen other blind people nominated Sam for this award. Yeah, that’s extremely impressive, and it demonstrates the value he has brought to so many. So, I want to recognize Sam Seavey with this award and also with a monetary award of $5,000.
Sam Seavey: Hello, NFB. Wow, this is incredible! They told me I needed to be quick. So first, I want to thank the leadership of the NFB. I want to thank the award committee for this prestigious award. I definitely want to thank my good friend Heather for the nomination, and I need to thank my family. Without their support over all these years of me making my crazy videos, none of this would have been possible. But more importantly, I need to thank everybody out there, my fellow VIPs. Without your support, without your trust in me, obviously none of this would have been possible, and I truly appreciate that. When I started The Blind Life twelve years ago, I never thought it would turn into this! Over a thousand videos on my YouTube channel, creating content exclusively for the blind and visually impaired across all social media platforms, including the podcast, and being recognized as one of the top resources online for information about assistive technology for the blind. I am humbled by this, and I truly appreciate it. Thank you, guys, again! And remember, get out there and keep living your best blind life!
Everette Bacon: All right. Okay. Mika Baugh created the first ever blind-focused sexual health, education, research, and training program. This program debuted at the 2024 National Convention of the National Federation of the Blind, and it provided an opportunity for participants to receive a hands-on approach to a subject that rarely has any focus designed with blind people in mind. Norma Crosby stated that this program could have devolved into silliness and inappropriate behavior, but because of the well thought-out design and careful planning by Mika Baugh, people were provided with an education to help them be more informed: more informed partners, more informed about their health, and more informed about how to advocate for their needs. The Dr. Jacob Bolotin Committee is excited to give this award to Doctor—well, soon to be doctor—Mika Baugh, and also a $20,000 monetary award to help her with her outstanding research. Mika Baugh, congratulations. Mika, here’s your award, and the microphone’s right in front of you.
Mika Baugh: Well, this is fun! Deep gratitude breeds great joy. I’m so happy to be part of the celebration of all of the work that we’re doing as a blind movement. I very much appreciate Norma Crosby, Pam Allen, and Jessica Beecham for their leadership and love and caring and feedback when we needed it. And I also appreciate the fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, however many of you facilitators who were there last year, but mostly the almost two hundred of you who came and participated with us. You were brave and walked into the room to learn about things that are sometimes a little bit difficult. So, thank you to everybody!
I appreciate the committee’s commitment to research. Sometimes research isn’t fun. Sometimes it takes a long time, and there are a lot of numbers and things that aren’t very interesting. But it’s important for us to generate the data that we want to use to change the world. So, thank you.
Everette Bacon: You did great. We could have just replayed her speech from earlier. That was pretty impressive. All right, our last award recipient, I’m really excited to give this award to Dr. Casey Robertson. [Applause] Casey is one of the most distinguished teachers of blind students in the country. She has taught hundreds of other teachers, students, and paraprofessionals and has pioneered her approach to teaching Braille through a natural order of contractions. She demonstrates that learning Braille is easy and is fun. It is not difficult, though society has proliferated this idea. Educators and students across the country have benefited from this approach, and we are now seeing a revolution of understanding that Braille truly is beautiful. That is because of people like Casey. For years, Casey has privately taught a fifteen-week summer class that both parents and professionals have completed. She offers this class freely and on her own time. Casey is the embodiment of being blind at heart, and I can’t wait to see what she is going to do next with this award. I’m proud to present this award to Dr. Casey Robertson and to give her a $20,000 award to continue her research.
Casey Robertson: Oh, my heavens! So, he said two minutes, but I’m a little speechless right now, so it won’t take that long. I want to start by thanking our Heavenly Father for giving me this small baby twenty-four years ago, my niece who was blind. She was the first blind person I ever met, and she transformed our entire family’s life. I’d like to thank Dr. Edward Bell and the PDRIB staff for training me and teaching me what it means to be blind. And I would thank each of you, every single person out there, for accepting me into a family like no other. So, on the count of three, we’re going to say Braille rocks. 1, 2, 3. [With audience] Braille rocks! All right!
Everette Bacon: Okay, let’s give one last Federation huge round of applause to these outstanding award winners. Thank you so much to the committee, Mr. President. That is my report.