[blindkid] Fwd: blind law maker

Thu Mar 7 13:59:21 UTC 2013

THANK...YOU...DENISE!!!  Way to go!!!  I actually thought it was wonderful!!!

Bernie

On 3/7/13, Denise Robinson <deniserob at gmail.com> wrote:
> Thought everyone would enjoy this story below
>
> Denise M Robinson
> Sent from my iPad
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: "Albert J Rizzi" <albert at myblindspot.org>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Link:
>> http://www.the-news-leader.com/ap%20general%20news/2013/03/05/for-blind-lawmaker-biography-reflects-in-policy
>>
>> Text:
>> For blind lawmaker, biography reflects in policy MIKE BAKER Associated
>> Press
>> Published: March 5, 2013
>>
>> OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- Behind his sunglasses, Rep. Cyrus Habib is reaching
>> back in memory, trying to recall the name of another fully blind
>> politician who came before him.
>>
>> This was someone who served many years ago, Habib recalls. In the U.S.
>> Senate. The grandfather of writer Gore Vidal. Habib rattles off a few
>> details before surrendering: "Let me look him up."
>>
>> Turning to a laptop that provides him constant audio feedback, Habib needs
>> just 23 seconds to launch his Internet browser, run a query and find the
>> information he's looking for -- a biographical overview of former Oklahoma
>> Sen. Thomas Gore.
>>
>> "There's a picture of him here from 1908," he says. "How does he look?"
>>
>> At just 31 years old, Habib has mastered skills to bypass the limitations
>> of his disability, and that has allowed him to trace a remarkable life
>> trajectory. At age 8, he completely lost his eyesight to cancer but
>> nonetheless went on to become a black belt in Karate, a jazz pianist, a
>> Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, an editor of the law review at Yale and an
>> attorney at a prestigious Seattle-based firm.
>>
>> Now he's Washington state's first blind lawmaker in decades, and his life
>> story is in many ways reflected in the policies he's now championing.
>>
>> ___
>>
>> Half-jokingly, Habib says that he imagines everyone still looks like Cyndi
>> Lauper and Boy George -- celebrities from the last time he was able to
>> see.
>>
>> He was just 4 months old when his parents received his cancer diagnosis.
>> It was retinoblastoma, a rare form of cancer affecting the retina that
>> typically strikes children. He lost sight in one eye when he was 2 and
>> spent much of his childhood in painful medical procedures and grueling
>> chemotherapy.
>>
>> Habib's treatment came from a range of specialists, including leading
>> doctors at Johns Hopkins, New York Hospital and the Wills Eye Institute in
>> Philadelphia -- all largely covered by his engineer father's medical
>> insurance.
>>
>> Now, the care he received as a child is something Habib considers as the
>> Legislature explores ways to provide medical coverage for children.
>>
>> "It is unthinkable to me that there would be a child, God forbid, that
>> would experience a life-threatening illness and not have health
>> insurance," he said.
>>
>> Despite all the medical intervention, Habib's vision deteriorated, and the
>> retinoblastoma ultimately forced doctors to remove his retina at age 8. It
>> didn't come as a surprise to him. And today he offers an optimist's
>> reflection on the loss, saying it came at perhaps an ideal age, when he
>> was old enough to retain a strong visual archive of his surroundings but
>> young enough to adapt.
>>
>> The family soon afterward moved from Baltimore across the country to the
>> Bellevue area, where Habib began his new challenge of trying to live a
>> normal life without sight.
>>
>> His mother, Susan Amini, recalls the day he came home from Somerset
>> Elementary School in the third grade and complained about his recess
>> teacher. Fearful of his safety, the teacher wouldn't let him on the
>> play-yard jungle gym and instead kept him close by and away from the other
>> kids. He wanted to be out on the gym and jumping on obstacles like his
>> peers.
>>
>> Amini went to the school, signed a waiver releasing the school of
>> liability if her son got hurt and then the two spent evenings and weekends
>> learning the playground, including safe ways to navigate the jungle gym
>> and the location of a tree stump that had sharp edges. Instead of avoiding
>> the obstacles, he sought them out, even when his mother wasn't there to
>> watch him.
>>
>> "When I would go pick him up, he would be the one on top of everything,"
>> she said.
>>
>> ___
>>
>> In developing the skills to cope, Habib received a variety of training,
>> and he makes sure to note where.
>>
>> He learned to use a walking cane from the Washington State Department of
>> Services for the Blind. Borrowing books from the Washington Talking Book &
>> Braille Library helped him master reading. He learned how to use
>> text-to-speech software through training at the Washington State School
>> for the Blind.
>>
>> Without those state-supported opportunities, Habib says, he couldn't have
>> gone from "braille to Yale."
>>
>> Now, as Washington lawmakers look to find new money to pay for basic
>> education in the state, one proposed place to get extra cash is to cut
>> social services. Habib said he rejects the premise that education and
>> social services are competing interests and that they actually work
>> together.
>>
>> "I get very worried because my own biography leads me to believe that,
>> especially for those children whose challenges are most pressing, social
>> services are often what make the critical difference," Habib said. "It's
>> going to be very difficult for a student, no matter how good their teacher
>> is and principal is, it's going to be very difficult for them to learn if
>> they are couch-surfing with their parents at night."
>>
>> ___
>>
>> At a recent hearing of the House Technology & Economic Development
>> committee, lawmakers rapidly moved through a series of bills. Each had
>> extensive written summaries and some included dense amendments.
>>
>> One was a major tax-incentive initiative that Habib himself proposed.
>>
>> In his seat on the committee, where Habib serves as vice chair, he
>> sometimes leaned over to whisper to colleagues. Occasionally, fellow Rep.
>> Gael Tarleton guided his hand to the right spot on sheets of paper where
>> official votes get recorded. But, mostly, Habib was on his own, with his
>> sunglasses on, laptop opened in front of him and a small earbud in one
>> ear.
>>
>> His text-to-speech software chirps at him in an almost indecipherable way,
>> moving so quickly that an untrained ear can only catch parts of what the
>> computer is saying. But Habib has no troubles keeping pace.
>>
>> The software helps him to handle the massive volumes of reading required
>> of lawmakers, allowing him to rapidly skim through even the lengthiest
>> bills, and keep abreast of changes in their wording. In his ear, the voice
>> changes in pitch when encountering things like words that have been
>> selected for elimination under a proposed law.
>>
>> Habib is apparently the first blind lawmaker in the Legislature in more
>> than 50 years, when Francis Pearson was representing southwest
>> Washington.
>>
>> Even though Habib is a freshman, he has stood out. The Democrat was named
>> as the vice chair of the technology and economic development committee
>> because of his expertise on legal issues in that sector. At the Seattle
>> law firm Perkins Coie, he focused his work on start-up technology
>> companies, working on issues such as licensing and technology.
>>
>> One of his first proposed laws this year was a plan to create a $1 million
>> annual business tax deduction to start-up ventures, targeting high-tech
>> and manufacturing industries that may be poised for long-term job growth.
>>
>> Republican Rep. Norma Smith said she has been working over the years to
>> develop ways to spur such economic growth. When Habib came into the
>> Legislature with similar ideas, she noted, he quickly reached out to
>> colleagues to get input and develop a plan.
>>
>> "What I've appreciated is his willingness to listen thoughtfully when
>> someone else has a different viewpoint and to craft a solution that
>> reaches that common ground," Smith said.
>>
>> Habib's bill passed out of committee with bipartisan support.
>>
>> While Habib sometimes uses his walking cane around the Capitol, he often
>> shuttles from hearings to the House floor hooked to the arm of a staff
>> member or colleague -- sometimes a Republican. He said it was one of the
>> misunderstood benefits of his blindness, allowing people of different
>> perspectives to come together and discuss issues.
>>
>> "I take the opportunity to walk with them," Habib said. "That creates a
>> bond and reminds us that we're really all going to the same place."
>>
>> ___
>>
>> Follow AP Writer Mike Baker on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/HiPpEV
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