In the absence of an informed family and a strong support system while growing up as a blind youngster in the isolated low-country of South Carolina, three fundamental factors and entities existed and conspired to guarantee that I would have a fighting chance to succeed in life; competent and compassionate Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVIs) in the Blindness Education system; the national Vocational Rehabilitation program; and, most important, the love and encouragement received from blind friends and mentors, a few incidentally encountered in the course of growing up at the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind, and most introduced to me through my early affiliation with the National Federation of the Blind.
Each of these influences filled an otherwise empty vacuum of knowledge and expectation about what I might achieve, and what I could expect, as I grew older and embarked upon life as a blind adult. Together, in their separate and unique ways, TVIs and blind acquaintances helped me to realize that I could flourish and succeed in a world where most people were sighted and doubted my capacity. And the national Vocational Rehabilitation program gave me access to financial resources and training that enabled me to break the bonds of intergenerational poverty that had been the legacy of my family for years.
In total, then, these three entities/factors proved to be the equation that presented me with a golden key to liberation that I could use to unlock doors of opportunity, if I was only willing to invest my time and talent. Recognizing my good fortune to have access to these institutional systems, I pledged to do all I could to succeed and thereby affirm the value and efficacy of specialized blindness education, vocational rehabilitation, and the benefit of associating with like-minded people, who rejected the ingrained and limited expectations that society as a whole held in relation to blindness and blind people, instead believing that one’s promise—blind or not—was governed by his/her aptitude and inclination to forge a way forward.
I concluded early on that the study of law would facilitate my desire to be a social architect, equipped to impact direction, mold policy, and advocate for others, as others before had advocated for me. With a strong liberal arts and legal education as a foundation, I have enjoyed unimagined opportunities to live a rewarding life. Inherent in that rewarding life of which I write has been the opportunity to return to others the favors and advantages that I was given early on from high-quality special education, vocational rehabilitation, and the support of those blind men and women who have walked before me.
As I launch this consulting service, I am hopeful that this will be a new avenue that will enable me to continue giving back. Fifty years into living, I have administered Federal and State programs for the benefit of persons with disabilities; worked in the disability-focused, nonprofit sector, edited a national magazine that aspired to portray blindness in the most positive light; and developed a familiarity with the complex programs that exist to empower persons with disabilities to shape their own destinies. If I can be of assistance to individuals, organizations, or government entities-in the areas where I have accumulated expertise—please reach out.
