2014 Anne and Matt Harbison recipient is Brian Meersma of Princeton Junction, N. J

2014 Anne and Matt Harbison recipient is Brian Meersma of Princeton Junction, N.J.

Brian has not let his learning disability of dyslexia have an impact on him academically. In order to cope with his slow reading and comprehension, he has used assistive technologies that read text to him by using text-to-speech. Brian says this allows him to understand text and read at a faster pace.

Brian's success with assistive technology has led him to start a blog to help people learn about assistive technologies. His blog has attracted over 860,000 page views. Brian has also traveled to Washington D.C. to talk to law makers about legislation related to dyslexia. He is also the only teen member of the Bookshare National Advisory Board which helps provide accessible books to people with print disabilities.
Brian will be attending university to pursue a career related to technology and disabilities. He would like to develop technologies to help the next generation of students with dyslexia and other disabilities.