[blindkid] Fwd: blind law maker

Arielle Silverman arielle71 at gmail.com
Fri Mar 8 00:14:52 UTC 2013


Habib was a 2006 NFB national scholarship winner. I remember him from
when I served as a student representative on the committee that year.
We as an organization should be quite proud of his accomplishments.
Arielle

On 3/7/13, Bernadette Jacobs <bernienfb75 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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>>> Version: 2013.0.2899 / Virus Database: 2641/6150 - Release Date:
>>> 03/05/13
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