The Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award

The Distinguished Educator of Blind Children Award

Future Reflections Convention 1990, Vol. 9 No. 4
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THE DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR
OF BLIND CHILDREN AWARD
[PICTURE] Doris Willoughby (left) accepts the Distinguished
Educator of Blind Children Award from Sharon Maneki
during the awards ceremony at the 1990 banquet.
Editor's Note: The following is reprinted from
the September, 1990 issue of the Braille Monitor.
Sharon Maneki, President of the NFB of
Maryland and chairwoman of the Distinguished
Educator of Blind Children Selection committee,
then presented this year's award. She said:
Fellow Federationists, this evening it is a great
privilege and honor to talk about a distinguished
educator. The National Federation of the Blind
believes in the future of blind persons. What better
way to insure that future than to invest in our blind
children? So we have designed the Distinguished
Educator of Blind Children Award. The recipient
of this award this evening is truly a distinguished
educator. It is most appropriate that she be recognized
at such a special convention, our 50th anniversary.
She is an educator who has not only influenced
the children in her school district, Heartland, Iowa,
but she has influenced blind children, their teachers,
and their parents throughout the nation. She is an
author of not one book but three: Your School Includes a Blind Student; A Resource Guide for
Parents and Educators of Blind Children', and, her
most recent endeavor, A Handbookfor Itinerant and
Resource Teachers of Blind and Visually Impaired
Students. Whenever we have a question, we call on
her, and she comes to the rescue with a thought, an
idea, a suggestion. I'm sure all of you now know
who this recipient is, so it gives me great pleasure
to present this award to Doris Willoughby. First of
all I would like to present Doris with a $500 check.
We also have an appropriate plaque. It too, has the
logo of the National Federation of the Blind, and it
reads:
National Federation of the Blind honors Doris
Willoughby, Distinguished Educator of Blind
Children, for your skill in teaching Braille and the
use of the white cane, for generously devoting extra
time to meet the needs of your students, for inspiring
your students to perform beyond their expectations,
and for sharing your wisdom with your colleagues
and parents across the nation through your writing,
July 5, 1990.
Congratulations, Doris!
Doris Willoughby responded as follows: "I am
very much honored, and the greatest honor is to
make a contribution to the education of blind
children. That's what really matters--equal opportunity
for blind children. I could never have done
any of this without the background of the National
Federation of the Blind. I would like particularly to
mention the help given in the preparation of this
most recent book by Sharon Duffy, the coauthor;
to Curtis Willoughby, my husband, who did all the
programming, including those marvelous pictures
of the abacus; and to Dr. Cranmer and Dr. Nemeth,
who made it possible to have the information about
the abacus and about math. I would also like to
mention Kim Bosshart, who received this award last
year and who is here again this year. She is a great
help to all of us. Again, I would like to say that I
could not have done any of this without the National
Federation of the Blind. It is a great honor to be here.
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