[nfbwatlk] David Patterson to Become First Legally Blind Governor

[Carl Jarvis]

March 14, 2008
David Patterson to Become First Legally Blind Governor on Monday

>From The New York Times:
14/the_new_york_times_on_the_web_logo
The_new_york_times_on_the_web_log_2

block quote
(op-ed contributor)

The Vision Thing
By STEPHEN KUUSISTO
Iowa City

WHEN David Paterson takes the oath of office in Albany on Monday, he will 
not only become the third African-American governor since Reconstruction, he 
will

also be the first legally blind chief state executive. I think it's a safe 
bet that Governor Paterson's visual impairment will be harder for the public

to understand than his race.

Blindness is often thought of as an either-or condition: a person can see or 
he can't. Terms like "low vision" or "legal blindness" are mysterious. 
Spotting

me with my guide dog in Grand Central Terminal when I was in New York 
recently, a stranger asked: "How blind are you? I mean, you don't look 
blind." I

told him I can see colors and fog. "Oh," he said with obvious puzzlement, 
"colors and fog."

Tens of thousands of people with severely limited vision or who are legally 
blind have delicate and even intricate forms of sight. I think of it as like

living inside a painting by Jackson Pollock - our sight is real but hard to 
explain. The images are sometimes indecipherable.

David Paterson's blindness isn't identical to mine. He lost his vision 
because of a childhood illness. I was born prematurely and my retinas were 
damaged

by incubation. He can see some images with his right eye and nothing with 
his left. I see the world from inside an abstract painting. Still, we're 
almost

the same age and both of us were sent to public schools in the early '60s, 
an era when visually impaired children didn't usually receive a mainstream 
education.

We both learned early on how to make serious use of our ears. I imagine the 
future governor's information-gathering skills are supple and inexhaustible.



David_patterson_picture_from_the__2
 Blind people are invariably creative and resourceful. Obviously we're good 
listeners. But what people may not know is that learning to have a keen 
sense

for what others are talking about requires developing an equally sharp 
curiosity about human beings. When people talk to me, I can't just listen; I 
am

also compelled to take stock of the person behind the words. This means 
asking questions that might not occur to people who can see. One of my 
students

recently observed that I ask people in my classes to explain the things that 
they customarily overlook. "You ask things like 'What was the first thing

you said to yourself this morning?'" she pointed out. "You challenge us to 
recall the forgotten things."

I can't afford forgotten things. Blind folks must constantly keep track of 
what we learn and memorize our surroundings. For us, an unfamiliar setting 
that

a sighted person could map out in a glance is a puzzle that requires agile 
problem-solving. On occasion we even need to ask strangers for advice.

New Yorkers will no doubt discover that Mr. Paterson will take great 
interest in the details of governance and that this will require him to take 
sincere

interest in people. He'll ask more questions than your average politician. 
And those who work in his administration will find that they are important 
not

simply for knowing things but because they can describe how they learned 
those things in the first place. That's perhaps the most important thing for 
the

public to understand about professionals who are blind - we are by nature 
tireless in acquiring information, and we remember virtually every detail of

what we read or hear.

Sometimes I ask my students to notice the words they're saying, and then I 
ask them to listen once more to the things they may have missed. In the 
world

of blindness this skill is part of "orientation and mobility." Blind people 
can navigate independently because they can interpret what they hear. They

can differentiate between the sound of traffic moving forward and cars in 
the turning lane. And yes, if you have a visual impairment you are likely 
practiced

at being patient.

I'm guessing there are some who wonder whether a blind man is up to the job 
of governing the Empire State. Even though there are 10 million blind or 
visually

impaired Americans, many people have never seen one of them in a job of such 
responsibility - or in any professional role at all. Even though it has been

close to 20 years since the adoption of the Americans With Disabilities Act, 
the unemployment rate for the blind is estimated to be 70 percent. In this

era of superb computer screen-reading software and talking P.D.A. devices, 
when many blind Americans are college graduates, this statistic implies that

the public still doesn't fully understand how talented visually impaired 
professionals are.

That's fine. New Yorkers once underestimated Franklin Roosevelt. Now David 
Paterson can show how a legally blind person can lead.

Stephen Kuusisto, who teaches creative nonfiction writing at the University 
of Iowa, is the author, most recently, of "Eavesdropping: A Memoir of 
Blindness

and Listening."

-------------- next part --------------
March 14, 2008
David Patterson to Become First Legally Blind Governor on Monday
>From The New York Times:
14/the_new_york_times_on_the_web_logo
The_new_york_times_on_the_web_log_2
block quote
(op-ed contributor)
The Vision Thing
By STEPHEN KUUSISTO
Iowa City
WHEN David Paterson takes the oath of office in Albany on Monday, he will
not only become the third African-American governor since Reconstruction, he
will
also be the first legally blind chief state executive. I think it's a safe
bet that Governor Paterson's visual impairment will be harder for the public
to understand than his race.
Blindness is often thought of as an either-or condition: a person can see or
he can't. Terms like "low vision" or "legal blindness" are mysterious.
Spotting
me with my guide dog in Grand Central Terminal when I was in New York
recently, a stranger asked: "How blind are you? I mean, you don't look
blind." I
told him I can see colors and fog. "Oh," he said with obvious puzzlement,
"colors and fog."
Tens of thousands of people with severely limited vision or who are legally
blind have delicate and even intricate forms of sight. I think of it as like
living inside a painting by Jackson Pollock - our sight is real but hard to
explain. The images are sometimes indecipherable.
David Paterson's blindness isn't identical to mine. He lost his vision
because of a childhood illness. I was born prematurely and my retinas were
damaged
by incubation. He can see some images with his right eye and nothing with
his left. I see the world from inside an abstract painting. Still, we're
almost
the same age and both of us were sent to public schools in the early '60s,
an era when visually impaired children didn't usually receive a mainstream
education.
We both learned early on how to make serious use of our ears. I imagine the
future governor's information-gathering skills are supple and inexhaustible.
David_patterson_picture_from_the__2
 Blind people are invariably creative and resourceful. Obviously we're good
listeners. But what people may not know is that learning to have a keen
sense
for what others are talking about requires developing an equally sharp
curiosity about human beings. When people talk to me, I can't just listen; I
am
also compelled to take stock of the person behind the words. This means
asking questions that might not occur to people who can see. One of my
students
recently observed that I ask people in my classes to explain the things that
they customarily overlook. "You ask things like 'What was the first thing
you said to yourself this morning?'" she pointed out. "You challenge us to
recall the forgotten things."
I can't afford forgotten things. Blind folks must constantly keep track of
what we learn and memorize our surroundings. For us, an unfamiliar setting
that
a sighted person could map out in a glance is a puzzle that requires agile
problem-solving. On occasion we even need to ask strangers for advice.
New Yorkers will no doubt discover that Mr. Paterson will take great
interest in the details of governance and that this will require him to take
sincere
interest in people. He'll ask more questions than your average politician.
And those who work in his administration will find that they are important
not
simply for knowing things but because they can describe how they learned
those things in the first place. That's perhaps the most important thing for
the
public to understand about professionals who are blind - we are by nature
tireless in acquiring information, and we remember virtually every detail of
what we read or hear.
Sometimes I ask my students to notice the words they're saying, and then I
ask them to listen once more to the things they may have missed. In the
world
of blindness this skill is part of "orientation and mobility." Blind people
can navigate independently because they can interpret what they hear. They
can differentiate between the sound of traffic moving forward and cars in
the turning lane. And yes, if you have a visual impairment you are likely
practiced
at being patient.
I'm guessing there are some who wonder whether a blind man is up to the job
of governing the Empire State. Even though there are 10 million blind or
visually
impaired Americans, many people have never seen one of them in a job of such
responsibility - or in any professional role at all. Even though it has been
close to 20 years since the adoption of the Americans With Disabilities Act,
the unemployment rate for the blind is estimated to be 70 percent. In this
era of superb computer screen-reading software and talking P.D.A. devices,
when many blind Americans are college graduates, this statistic implies that
the public still doesn't fully understand how talented visually impaired
professionals are.
That's fine. New Yorkers once underestimated Franklin Roosevelt. Now David
Paterson can show how a legally blind person can lead.
Stephen Kuusisto, who teaches creative nonfiction writing at the University
of Iowa, is the author, most recently, of "Eavesdropping: A Memoir of
Blindness
and Listening."