[blindkid] Fwd: blind law maker

Fri Mar 8 12:34:20 UTC 2013

Thanks Arielle for mentioning that....just love to see things come around
like that
Denise

On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 7:14 PM, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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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> >>> No virus found in this message.
> >>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> >>> Version: 2013.0.2899 / Virus Database: 2641/6150 - Release Date:
> >>> 03/05/13
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-- 
*Dr Denise*

Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
CEO, TechVision, LLC
Specialist in Technology/Training/Teaching for blind/low vision
423-573-6413

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