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<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks to Buffa for sharing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Four jobs you won't believe people who are blind can do<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These four remarkable and successful individuals are helping change the world’s perception about people with blindness<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Photographer Pete Eckert, state Supreme Court justice Richard Bernstein, BBC correspondent Gary O’Donoghue and chef Christine Ha<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Clockwise from top left: Photographer Pete Eckert, state Supreme Court justice Richard Bernstein, BBC correspondent Gary O’Donoghue and chef Christine<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ha didn't allow blindness to keep them from finding their dream job.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">article<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">December 2, 2015<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">BILL WINTER<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Think of a job that someone who is blind can’t possibly do. Guess what? They can.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From an award-winning photographer to an international journalist, and from a state Supreme Court justice to an acclaimed chef, here are four individuals<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who are shattering stereotypes about what people with blindness can accomplish in the workplace – and in life.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Professional photographer<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Award-winning photographer Pete Eckert calls himself a tourist in the sighted world. “I am trying to cut a new path as a blind visual artist,” he said<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">on his website, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">PeteEckert.com.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I am not bound by the assumptions of the sighted or their assumed limits.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Eckert was diagnosed in his teens with retinitis pigmentosa. Before he lost his vision completely at age 28, he found an old Kodak camera and taught himself<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">to use it. He went on to develop a unique photographic style that uses slow-speed photography and multiple exposures. “I see each shot very clearly, only<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I use sound, touch, and memory,” he said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Over the past 30 years, Eckert’s photographs have been exhibited around the world and he has won multiple awards, including first place in the 2008 “Exposure”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">competition by Artists Wanted in New York. “My motivation comes from trying to show sighted people the world from a blind perspective,” he told
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Oasis magazine.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">International journalist<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Gary O’Donoghue<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">has a nose for news. That comes in handy since the British journalist is, in his own words, “that blind bloke you sometimes see on the news.” O’Donoghue,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who lost his vision at age 8, became interested in journalism in high school. That led to a 20-year career at the BBC, where he covered everything from<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the Kosovo war to British government. In 2015, he was assigned to cover American politics in Washington, DC.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Being a blind journalist is “hard, but important,” O’Donoghue told the
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">BBC.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s important to have people like me doing the job though, if journalism is going to properly reflect how Britain is. Otherwise, all stereotypes will<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">be perpetuated, and the world won’t move on in its understanding of disability.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are also advantages to being blind, O’Donoghue said. “Sometimes you get a second longer before they slam the door in your face,” he said. “It’s about<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">making that second count.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">State Supreme Court justice<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Justice is supposed to be blind – and it definitely is when <o:p>
</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Richard Bernstein<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">hears arguments in the Michigan Supreme Court. He made history in 2014 when he became the first person who is legally blind to be elected to the state’s<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">highest court.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bernstein, who has been blind since birth, prepares for cases by having an assistant read him legal documents. “It would be much easier if I could read<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and write like everyone else, but that’s not how I was created,” he told the
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Associated Press.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"No question, it requires a lot more work, but the flip side is it requires you to operate at the highest level of preparedness. This is what I’ve done<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">my entire life.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bernstein is also an accomplished athlete who’s run 19 marathons. “So often people look at us and see physical infirmities,” he said. “But we tend to have<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">a strength that comes with the spirit that is incredibly resilient and powerful.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chef and reality TV star<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For popular chef Christine Ha, cooking is all about taste, aroma and touch. “I have to figure out by smell and touch if an ingredient is fresh,” she told<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">People magazine.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s really about being organized, careful and using my other senses.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ha has neuromyelitis optica (NMO), an autoimmune degenerative condition that caused her to lose most of her vision in her 20s. She never attended culinary<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">school, but she attracted wide attention on her food blog, <o:p>
</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Blind Cook,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">which includes recipes, cooking tips and restaurant reviews.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Ha became a pop culture phenomenon in 2012 when she won Fox TV’s “MasterChef” cooking competition show. She released a cookbook, Recipes from My Home Kitchen:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Asian and American Comfort Food, and co-hosts <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Four Senses,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">a cooking show on Canadian television geared towards people with visually impairments. In 2014, she won the Hellen Keller Personal Achievement Award from<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the American Foundation for the Blind.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.perkins.org/stories/blog/four-jobs-you-wont-believe-people-who-are-blind-can-do">http://www.perkins.org/stories/blog/four-jobs-you-wont-believe-people-who-are-blind-can-do</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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