[Community-service] Your first time volunteering as a blind person

[Jonathan Franks]

Hello everyone,
I was reflecting earlier today of my first volunteer opportunity as a
blind person. Every one of us have their own degrees and levels of
blindness at different times in our lives. I lost my sight at the age
of 22 due to Diabetic Retinopathy and Glaucoma. At that point I did
not have any confidence in my abilities to become a independent blind
individual.9 years ago I had no idea that I would be at this point in
my life if you had asked me where I imagined myself regarding the
future. I owe a lot to the training center for teaching me the skills
to become a confident and competent blind individual. Now my friends,
you may ask “How does this relate to volunteering?” Well, after I
graduated from the training center, I wanted to give back to the
facility that gave so much to me. While I was in the program, many of
my instructors told me that I had an aptitude for helping others.
Whether it was in teaching braille, leading adjustment to blindness
courses, mobility training, technology skills or teaching how to live
independently as a blind person. I volunteered for a year at my
training center teaching others these skills to a vast number of
consumers and this not only benefitted them as growing competent blind
individuals, but to me as well. This opportunity helped solidify my
insightfulness and realization that I can be a strong independent
blind person who can contribute in numerous ways to whatever I put my
mind and efforts into. I have had volunteer opportunities prior to me
losing my sight when I was younger; however I did not fully reflect on
how impactful the value of community service is as I do now.
Volunteering at the training center was the catalyst and ignition
point of my love for community service. This was also what led me to
become a Social Work major and endeavor to help many individuals,
groups, communities and populations. From this experience and many
others, I know that as a blind person I can contribute to the various
values and aspects of community service to the full extent of my
abilities just as my sighted peers can perform.

I am hoping that many of you will share your experiences of your first
time volunteering as a blind individual and share how it impacted your
life in a positive manner.

I definitely also want to encourage you all to share this story with
our blog as well as any other story you can share regarding the impact
of how performing community service has been meaningful in your lives.
Please send your stories to
blog at nfbcommunityservice.org

Best

Jonathan Franks