[NFB-Utah] National Federation Of The Blind Convention Seeks To Change What It Means To Be Blind

[Nfb Utah]

Fellow Federationists!
I am really excited about our upcoming annual state convention! I hope all
of you are as well! Thanks to Dr. Sachin Pavithran, I was able to be on
local Utah Public Radio promoting the upcoming convention. The link and the
transcript is below.
Enjoy!

https://www.upr.org/post/national-federation-blind-convention-seeks-change-what-it-means-be-blind

National Federation Of The Blind Convention Seeks To Change What It Means
To Be Blind
Vision loss has affected at least 9,000 Utahns, and probably many more. For
people who have recently lost their eyesight, it can feel like a tragedy.
Everette Bacon, president of the National Federation of the Blind in Utah,
has a very different view of blindness. It’s a vision he hopes to share
with the blind, their families and their service providers during an
upcoming convention in Salt Lake City.
“I come from a long line of hereditary blindness,” Bacon said. “I don’t
remember seeing anything past the age of 40.”
He works for the state of Utah’s Division of Services for the Blind and
Visually Impaired. But before that, he had a different job.
“I had lost a job due to the fact that my vision had started to decrease
and my job didn’t know how I was going to do the job anymore and they let
me go," he said. "It was a real traumatic experience. And the National
Federation of the Blind reached out to me and told me about how this
advocacy organization works to help change what it means to be blind and
shows blind people how they can still live independently and still work
independently. And it really kind of spoke to me and I really got involved
in the organization.“
Now, as president of NFB of Utah, he is reaching out to people all over the
state. The organization will hold its annual convention on April 11 through
the 13 in the Salt Lake City Sheraton.
“Our main goal is to help blind people understand, and the sighted
community understand, that blindness does not have to hold anyone back from
the life they want to live,” he said. “We also raise expectations of
individuals who are blind or have low vision, or people that serve the
blind or low vision, we want to try to raise expectations because we know
that low expectations create barriers and obstacles between people and
achieving their dreams.
“You’ll have 200 blind people in one place, and that’s kind of fun, to see
a lot of canes and guide dogs, people that are still at a level where they
cannot travel independently. And so you have people of all different walks
of life, of all different levels of independence, and it’s a great place
for individuals that don’t know a lot about blindness to learn about it.”
Utah has many residents who are dealing with vision loss, but they don’t
all seek services to help them with the transition.
“At the Division of Services for the Blind where I work, we keep a database
of people we serve. That database is well over 9,000," Bacon said. "You
have to think, blindness and low vision is something that is so much more
widespread. It’s a disability that a lot of people have trouble admitting
that they have, especially elderly folks that have started to lose vision
late in life, and they’ve lived with perfect or relatively good vision for
many, many years, and all of the sudden they’re starting to lose vision and
it’s creating obstacles for them in their lives.”
The convention will cater to people wherever they are on their journey.
“Our general sessions are going to focus on all kinds of different levels.
We’re going to talk about how a person that’s new to low vision or new to
blindness, what types of resources are available to them, here on a local
level and on a national level,” Bacon said.
Attendees can also look at high- and low-tech solutions.
"We offer an exhibit hall that we call it, and we have different technology
vendors that offer all kinds of assistive technology products, anywhere
from basic magnifiers and aides and appliances, all the way to electronic
video magnifiers, braille displays, talking computers, iPhones that are
completely accessible, you name it, we try to find ways to make it
accessible.
Attendees may also find a new role model or two.
“We have, in Utah, we have individuals who are lawyers, who are professors
at both Salt Lake Community College, Utah State University, we have blind
people who are rehabilitation counselors, computer programmers, video game
creators."
_________________________________
For more information about the NFB convention, visit their webpage
www.nfbutah.org
For more information about services for the blind in Utah, visit their
website.


National Federation of the Blind of Utah
Hotline 801-info-nfb (801-632-6632)
www.nfbutah.org
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