[Colorado-Talk] Meet the Blind article from Aurora

[Peggy Chong]

Hi All:

 

The Aurora Chapter of the NFB of Colorado had put an article together we are
circulating to the media as a virtual "Meet the Blind" booth or
presentation.  I have pasted it below.  Please feel free to circulate it in
your community, local newspapers or media.

 

Peggy Chong

 

 

Meet the blind-Virtually

 

October is Meet The Blind month and each year the National Federation of the
Blind of Colorado,(NFBCO) Aurora Chapter holds various events out in the
community to introduce members of the community to the blind of Aurora to
dispel the myths that blindness is horrific.  Our white canes or dog guides
are seen at school classes and community organizations demonstrating the
techniques of blindness.  Braille and print handouts are available at our
booths at resource fairs around the community and activities at local
libraries to name a few.  

 

No one wants to be blind and we in the NFBCO Aurora Chapter do not shout
that "Blind is Beautiful".  We demonstrate in our everyday lives that
blindness is not what needs to define us or you.  We are proud of who we
are.  With proper training and a positive attitude, you can go back to your
previous lifestyle, or choose a new and exciting path.  

 

So, what have our blind members been doing since the pandemic hit?  Many
still are working, but now from home.  We are checking on our fellow blind,
our sighted neighbors and family to be sure no one is lonely or without
basic needs.  Helping financially and transportation-wise to obtain needed
medicine and medical appointments.  Many of us have become ZOOM experts,
even hosting ZOOM meetings for our sighted friends.  Some are making masks;
teaching on-line, everything from aerobics to technology; actively working
to get out the vote; actively encouraging everyone to fill out the 2020
census and enjoying the great outdoors.

 

What does the NFBCO do when there is not a pandemic?  Last year we secured
independent voting legislation for the blind.  We worked with other
organizations to secure a minimum wage for disabled people in Denver.  Each
day we bring hundreds of newspapers and magazines available over the
telephone to the blind and disabled in Colorado via NFB-NEWSLINE.   

 

Our blind members are teachers in public schools; attorneys;  tax
specialists, athletes; Tupperware sales representatives; make and sell
jewelry; sculptor; Day Care operators; Social workers: CBD grower (legally);
own and operate hair salon's; own and operate restaurants and eating
establishments: parents; homeowners; newspaper reporter: Coffee house
merchant-wholesale; message therapists: social workers; government
employees; judges; counselors, college students, just to name a few.  We
even have a professional politician.  

 

NFBCO founded one of the best training centers on blindness in the country,
the Colorado Center for the Blind, CCB.  Based in Littleton, blind people
come from all across America and from around the world to spend six to nine
months at CCB, learning to read and write in braille, travel with a long
white cane, use adaptive technology and to think like a blind person.  

 

As blindness effects the older population at a higher rate, a majority of
our members, over 60 keep active.  We have world travelers; tutor/read to
children; church leaders and even college students.  We do what you do!

 

If we could meet you in person at one of our events, we would share what
some of our blind Colorado Ancestors have done in the past such as; Chuck
Collins-and other blind radio personalities: Charles Smith-telegraph
operator; Keith Black and Mildred Snow-medical transcribers: Ray McGeorge
and Henry Marson-machinists; Charlton Harris-music teacher; Lute
Wilcox-printer-publishers;  Alfred C. King-published poet; Bert Johnson-and
other blind entertainers; Lottie MacLeod-stenographer and a host of  broom
makers/salesmen; seamstresses: piano tuners, miners and many blind ancestors
doing the same jobs we do today.

 

But I bet you did not know that over the years, six blind men have served in
our state legislature.  Did you know that the first blind man in the
Colorado State House of Representatives was a lawyer who went blind later in
life and found no services of any kind for blind adults here in Colorado?
After meeting the blind publisher from Denver, Lute Wilcox, the lawyer ran
for office, won and helped create the first legislation passed in the state
that addressed the concerns of blind adults.  James M. Downing was from
Aspen and served from 1916 to 1920 when forced to leave due to ill health.
He died a year later.  Others who served were:

 

              Representative Frank Mobley, Colorado Springs, 1924-26

              Senator Roy Munson Chapman, Grand Junction, 1934-38

              Representative William A. Lewis, Denver, 1942-46

              Representative Robert W. Taylor, Pueblo, 1946-8

              Representative Peter James Campbell, Nucla, 1950-52, 

              Representative Jack Jenkins, Pueblo, 1956-58, 

 

They had little in common other than blindness. Some went to the school for
the blind as children, some had no training at all.  Some went blind from
accidents while others were blinded from an early age.  Some had a lot of
education, many did not.  What they all had in common was a will to succeed.
A trait that the NFBCO hope to pass to the new generation of blind
Coloradans.  

 

To "Meet The Blind" in person or virtually and learn more about blindness,
or to make a contribution towards our efforts,  contact the NFBCO-Aurora
chapter President Dale Holden at 303-905-9738 or dalelholden at me.com
<mailto:dalelholden at me.com>  or check out or website at www.nfbco.org
<http://www.nfbco.org>  to learn more and to contact a local chapter in your
area.  When it is safe for us all to meet up, we would love to talk to your
community or civic group, church or school and demonstrate that it is
respectable to be blind. 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20200910/713c0d56/attachment.html>