Texas Student Proves You Can Be Gifted and Disabled at the Same Time; Earns Major National Achievement Award

    HOUSTON, May 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Kathryn (Kate) Elizabeth Adams of Houston,
 a Dartmouth pre-med student, has dispelled what she says is an all-too
 familiar conclusion:  that you can't be gifted and disabled at the same time.
     Adams, who is dyslexic, is one of three top winners of a prestigious
 $6,000 Marion Huber Learning Through Listening award from Recording for the
 Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), the largest national nonprofit organization
 providing taped textbooks to students of all ages who cannot effectively read
 standard print because of a disability including visual impairment, dyslexia
 or another physical disability.  See www.rfbd.org/NAA.htm .
     Only in her freshman year of high school, when she saw a TV show about
 dyslexia, was Adams finally able to put a name to her problem with "painfully
 slow reading and terrible spelling."  Even after being formally diagnosed with
 dyslexia, she says she still met with skepticism and resistance.  Recalling
 the difficulties she has encountered, she says, "The bureaucratic system's
 conclusion, I realize now, is an all-too-familiar one:  that you can't be
 gifted and disabled at the same time."
     Adams graduated from The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in
 Houston with a 4.4 GPA (due to advance placement courses).  In addition to
 excelling in academics, this National Honor Society and gifted and talented
 program member was the treasurer of the school's singing groups, captain of
 the swimming team, leader of a church youth group and founder of a bible study
 class.  At Dartmouth, she rows on the women's crew team and sings with the
 College Glee Club and X.ado, a Christian a cappella group.
     Adams, a member of RFB&D since 1994, has borrowed about 20 books.  Using
 RFB&D's tapes, was, she says, "the equivalent to having an intelligent and
 helpful friend sitting with me.  Reading with these tapes ... made accessible
 to me what would have otherwise been off limits before, particularly great
 literature ... These textbooks on tape have filled an enormous need for my
 academic life to this point and will continue to be vital for my future
 academic and personal fulfillment."
     Nationwide, RFB&D has over 91,000 members in kindergarten through graduate
 school and beyond, with more than 3,500 students from Texas.  RFB&D taped
 textbooks are read and recorded by more than 5,700 highly trained volunteers
 working in 32 studios around the country, including a studio in Austin, TX.
 RFB&D's master library in Princeton, NJ, houses over 83,000 textbook titles in
 every subject and grade level.  Last year, RFB&D circulated a quarter of
 a million accessible textbooks among its members.
 
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SOURCE  Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic