[Cinci-nfb] In case you want the whole "blind barber" storyFW: [DGV] Blind barber gets his cut

[tollebooth]

I love this. Who said blind people can't handle knives with great skill?

tollebooth

Note: this message was generated using dictation on an iOS device. 

> On Nov 12, 2015, at 11:34 AM, Deborah Kendrick via Cinci-nfb <cinci-nfb at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Again, this story isn’t perfect, but I think you will love it.
> My fellow journalists still have a distance to go in learning to use politically correct lanugage, but this is a great victory.
> Read on and smile.
> Deborah
>  
> Blind barber gets his cut
> 
> http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2015/11/blind_barber_gets_his_cut
> 
> Man awarded $100G as firing ruled illegal
> 
> Bob McGovern Saturday, November 07, 2015
> 
> Photo by: Herald Staff
> Joel Nixon, a barber since 2008, who recently lost his job due to a 
> degenerative eye disease, poses for the Boston Herald. Photo by Chelsea 
> Nixon
> 
> 6 comments
> 
> A legally blind barber who honed his craft cutting his siblings’ hair 
> has been awarded $100,000 after a state agency found that he was 
> illegally fired by a shop that didn’t want a sight-impaired scissorsmith 
> on staff.
> 
> “When it comes to hairstyling, I’m an artist and I take pride in what I 
> do,” said Joel Nixon, a barber who has been cutting men’s hair for 
> years. “When you’re in my chair, I don’t let you out of my chair until 
> they’re satisfied. My vision does not compromise my ability to do my job.”
> 
> Nixon, 29, has been diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a hereditary 
> condition that affects his peripheral vision. He has trouble seeing at 
> night, and has been declared legally blind by the Massachusetts 
> Commission for the Blind.
> 
> He was working for Tony’s Barber Shop in Norton in 2011, but a year 
> later his boss, Tony Morales, discovered his malady, according to the 
> decision by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
> 
> On March 3, 2012, Nixon was working at the shop’s South Easton location 
> when he tripped over a customer’s legs. Later in the day, he tripped 
> over a chair in the waiting room.
> 
> “Morales told him to pack up his things and get his wife to take him 
> home,” the MCAD hearing officer wrote. “(Nixon) understood that his 
> employment was being terminated.”
> 
> Things fell apart for Nixon after that, he said. He couldn’t find a job 
> nearby, and his wife had a high-risk pregnancy that made it difficult 
> for him to work far from home. He was unemployed for three years, his 
> condo went into foreclosure, and he was forced to apply for food stamps 
> and went to charities for Christmas gifts, he said.
> 
> He’s moving his family to a small apartment tomorrow. Nixon also deals 
> with the lingering possibility he may lose his sight forever.
> 
> “I could wake up someday and be completely blind, but my goal is to have 
> a nice home with a nice backyard for my son,” Nixon said, fighting back 
> tears. “I’ve never been to Disneyland, and I want to take him. I want to 
> take him before I lose my vision. I’m trying to do the best I can.”
> 
> MCAD awarded Nixon $75,000 in lost wages and $25,000 for emotional 
> distress in a decision made public yesterday.
> 
> Morales, who did not appear at numerous hearings and parted ways with an 
> attorney who was supposed to help him, said Nixon’s entire story is a 
> lie. He said Nixon was an independent contractor, wasn’t able to carry 
> his weight when he was with his shop and wasn’t a licensed barber.
> 
> “It’s a bunch of lies. It’s sad that people like Joel try to take 
> advantage of their situation and create false accusations,” Morales 
> said, adding that he would hire an attorney and appeal the decision. 
> “All of this is false accusations.”
> 
> Morales no longer owns the Norton shop, but still runs the South Easton 
> business.
> 
> An instructor who taught Nixon how to cut hair at the Massachusetts 
> School of Barbering said he was happy to hear that his former pupil came 
> away from the MCAD hearing victorious.
> 
> “He was a nice kid,” said Chuck Russian, the school’s co-director. “We 
> were a little concerned when he said he was legally blind, but he did 
> the work, passed the course and passed the state board exam.”
> 
> Nixon said he learned how to cut hair from his mother while growing up, 
> using a set of clippers the family bought at Wal-Mart. He fell in love 
> with the trade, “and it became my life’s calling.” Now, his clients ask 
> for him by name.
> 
> “I have a following,” he said. “My clients call me the ‘Blind Barber.’ ”
> 
> ©Copyright by the Boston Herald and Herald Media
> 
>  
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