For Donna Sanborn, it was an honor. For students at Emporia Christian School, it was a preview of what the Braille U.S. flags coming to Emporia will look like.
Sanborn, the wife of Emporia Christian principal Jim Sanborn, became the first blind Emporian to be presented a Braille flag when Jesse Solis of the All Veterans Tribute Committee did so in a school assembly on Tuesday.
Donna Sanborn has been legally blind for nine years and completely blind for seven after tumors burst in her retina. Before leaving the work force in 2000, she was a college teacher in Springfield, Mo., and in Tulsa, Okla.
The Braille flags, created by Wichita native Randolph Cabral, have been a hit with servicemen and women, as well as lawmakers, since Cabral began distributing them about two years ago through the Kansas Braille Transcription Institute, for which he serves as president. Sanborn she hadn’t heard about the Braille flags before learning that she would be honored.
“It’s so inspiring,” she said. “I appreciate all the tireless dedication (of) Mr. Cabral and the others who dedicated themselves to working for us on behalf of the blind community. So I feel very honored.”
After spending the last eight years raising her three children, Donna recently underwent training to learn Braille and use computers as a blind person, and she plans to re-enter the work force soon in an administrative assistant position.
Solis told children and faculty in the Emporia Christian assembly room that honoring Sanborn was the idea of Nona Thomas, a member of the American Legion and a friend of Sanborn’s. Solis explained the concept of the Braille flags and presented Sanborn the framed flag replica to applause from those in the assembly room.
“It’s an honor for me,” Solis said before the presentation. “You know, I can walk outside at any given time and drive around our city in Emporia and look at Old Glory and appreciate it. Someone that is legally impaired or blind, they can’t. So ... to be the one to hand this to somebody, it’s a great honor, and it’s a great, great feeling.”
Sanborn told the crowd she was proud to be a U.S. citizen, and it was special to her to have a Braille flag after nine years of not being able to see it. She said she would display the replica with pride.
Thousands of Cabral’s Braille flags have been distributed, and a number of prominent politicians, such as Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, have taken an interest in them; both of those presidential candidates have been photographed with a Braille flag.
With Emporia’s historic status as the founding city of Veterans Day on his mind, Solis and the committee set out to raise the money to bring two Braille flags to Emporia. He said that following a $1,000 grant from the Emporia Community Foundation, the money has been raised. Solis plans to put one flag in the Soden’s Grove Memorial Park and one in the Mexican-American World War II Veterans Memorial. He hopes to have them on display by this year’s Veterans Day.
“We — meaning the All Veterans Tribute Committee — we deeply, deeply thank the Emporia Community Foundation and the board of directors for giving us this money for this project,” Solis said.
kitty93 (anonymous) says...
Braille flags? That's awesome! I wonder what they look (and feel) like!
May 15, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
yellow82 (anonymous) says...
I found a website that has pictures of braille flags.
http://www.kbti.org/flags.html
The article got my curiousity going and I had to see them for myself. I think they look pretty cool. If you double click on the flags the will pop up enlarged and you can see the braille on them.
May 15, 2008 at 2:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )