[Ncabs] Bio of Saturday night speaker

[Alan A. Chase]

   Ron Brown was born in Gary, Indiana, the first male child of
eight children, to Marzette and Myra Brown on May 15, 1956. When he
was a senior in high school, he became blind after he was shot on his
way home from a basketball game. At the time he knew nothing about
blindness and was overwhelmed by the feeling that his entire life had
been radically changed in an instant. One of the first painful lessons
he learned was that many of his friends could not deal with his
blindness and stayed away from him. Luckily he began to make new
friends, members of the National Federation of the Blind. They became
inspiring role models for Ron, teaching him that it was respectable to
be blind and that he could continue to strive for the goals he had set
himself.

            Armed with this newfound freedom, Ron graduated from Ball
State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in health science.
He then went to work at Tradewinds Rehabilitation Center in Indiana,
where he met his wife Jean, who was on the staff. Eventually he was
offered a job in the Business Enterprise Program. He had always wanted
to own his own business, and this gave him the opportunity to do so.
He has now been in business for himself for over twenty five years.
Recently Ron returned to school and earned a master's degree in
educational psychology with a certification in orientation and
mobility from Louisiana Tech University. He now owns a second
business, teaching cane travel to blind people in the state of
Indiana.

            As Ron Brown developed and matured in his personal life,
his commitment to and service in the National Federation of the Blind
deepened as well. In the early years he was a chapter president and
was then elected to the NFB of Indiana's board of directors. He was
first elected president of the affiliate in 1996 and has been
reelected every two years since. In 2001 he was elected to serve on
the NFB board of directors. In 2008 Ron was elected second Vice
President of the NFB and has served to the present.

            Looking back, Ron Brown says, "Becoming a member of the
national board is the fulfillment of a life dream. I have been an
advocate for blind people for more than twenty-five years, and with
every passing year my commitment to serving the blind of this nation
increases. My life indeed changed the night I became blind, but with
the perspective I now have, I must say that it was for the better."


-- 
Alan A. Chase, M.Ed.
Special Education Teacher, Wake County Public School System
Program Coordinator, Envisioning Youth Empowerment Retreat
President, North Carolina Association of Blind Students
Secretary, Governor Morehead School Alumni Association