[mountainstate] Fw: [acb-l] National Braille Press dandmbrown at
atlanticbb.net Thu May 3 21:11:31 EDT 2012 Posted to wcb-l by
Becky Frankeberger: How National Braille Press Made it to the
Top. The history of the National Braille Press is an interesting
tale. Started by a blind Italian immigrant named Francis B.
Ierardi in 1927, National Braille Press was founded with the
premise that there needed to be a newspaper made available
weekly in braille. Francis B. Ierardi was born in Armento, Italy
in 1886 and immigrated to New York in 1887. He lost his sight at
age 12 while playing with a box of nails and a dynamite cap
exploded. He then sold newspapers and worked as a shoeshine boy
in order to support his family and make himself feel self-
sufficient. Later, he talked his family into moving to Boston so
that he could attend the Perkins School for the Blind in 1901.
After graduating from Perkins, he became a social worker with
the State Division for The Blind in Massachusetts. When World
War I broke out, Francis r