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

[Deborah Kendrick]

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.’ ”

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