[Ohio-Talk] Meet the national rep for our state convention.

[Richard Payne]

 Ever Lee Hairston was unanimously elected to the Board of Directors at the
2010 National Federation of the Blind (NFB) convention on July 6, 2010, in
Dallas, Texas. She brings considerable experience to this position, having
served in various capacities with the NFB over the years-including nineteen
consecutive years of service on the NFB Scholarship Committee and a
fourteen-year stint as first vice president of the NFB of New Jersey. Ever
Lee founded and served as the president of the Garden State Chapter of the
NFB of New Jersey from 1991 until 2005, and for many years she was the
coordinator of the LEAD Program, a mentoring program for blind and visually
impaired teenagers. She currently serves on the board of directors of the
Louisiana Center for the Blind.
Born to Arizona and Clarence Hairston on the Coolemee plantation in
Mocksville, North Carolina, Ever Lee is the third of seven children. She
grew up and attended schools in the segregated South. "I felt like a
second-class citizen, using hand-me-down books in school; and, due to
unexplained vision problems, I had to struggle to read from the bulletin
board," Ever Lee noted. In spite of the challenges of growing up in the
segregated South and continuing visual problems, Ever Lee had a strong
desire to become a nurse. Ever Lee's parents simply could not afford to send
her to college; so after high school, Ever Lee went to New York City to earn
money for college by working as a live-in maid. She returned to North
Carolina at the end of the summer anxious to pursue a nursing career.
However, she failed the required eye examination and was told that she would
not be suitable for admission to Duke University Nursing School. "I was
heartbroken but refused to be defeated," she said. She was accepted at North
Carolina Central University, where she earned a teaching degree.
After graduating from North Carolina Central, Ever Lee taught high school
business courses in New Jersey. While working as a high school teacher in
New Jersey, Ever Lee's eyesight continued to deteriorate. She finally sought
answers and medical care. Ever Lee, along with three siblings, were
diagnosed with a genetic eye disease, retinitis pigmentosa (RP). And, four
years after starting a challenging teaching career, Ever Lee was forced to
resign from her position because of her impending blindness.
At the age of twenty-nine, facing total blindness, with a failed marriage, a
child to raise alone, and uncertainty about future employment, Ever Lee
admitted to being devastated and feeling sorry for herself. However, she
held on to the hope that a better way of life was in store for her. Ever Lee
admits to believing in the old adage that "When God closes a door, He opens
a window." She began looking for the window.
After inventorying her strengths, she stepped through a window of
opportunity at New Jersey's Rutgers University, where she took graduate
courses in counseling. In 1983 she landed a Counselor Trainee position with
the Camden County Department of Health and Human Services. But, as Ever Lee
explains it, "With no blindness skills, I was faking my way through." She
notes that she relied heavily on sighted people to read to her and to act as
guides.
In 1987 Ever Lee received a call from Jackie Billie inviting her to a NFB
convention in Phoenix, Arizona. At first she made excuses because she was
afraid of requesting the time off from her job. Jackie was persistent, and
Ever Lee finally agreed to attend the convention.
Ever Lee describes arriving at the hotel in Phoenix, Arizona, to the
unfamiliar sound of canes tapping and the unsettling feeling of dogs licking
her legs. The most profound experience, as Ever Lee explains it, came when
she started through the registration line. She remembers being asked, "Would
you like a Braille or print agenda?" She could no longer read print and did
not know Braille. It was then, according to Ever Lee, that a light bulb went
off.
"I am illiterate," she thought. She talked to as many people as she could at
that convention in Phoenix, Arizona, and learned about the NFB centers. From
then until 1990 she continued to function without blindness skills but
worked on a plan with Joanne Wilson to get to Louisiana where she could be
trained.
Ever Lee attended the Louisiana Center for the Blind from October 1990 until
April 1991. She learned to read Braille, mastered cane travel and
independent living skills, and learned to utilize adaptive technology. She
returned to New Jersey, after the Freedom Bell rang for her at the Louisiana
Center, with a confidence she never had before, integrating blindness skills
into her everyday life.
Ever Lee credits her training at the Louisiana Center for the Blind with
enabling her to succeed at her chosen career. After twenty-six years holding
many successive positions with the Department of Health and Human Services,
Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program in New Jersey, Ever Lee
retired from the position of program director in 2006.
In July of 2006 she moved to California. She continues to devote tireless
hours mentoring and advocating for the blind, as well as delivering
inspiring speeches to blind and visually impaired audiences and educating
the sighted public about blindness. Ever Lee is blessed with one son,
Victor; a wonderful daughter-in-law, Brenda; and three energetic
grandchildren: Briana, Kendall, and Jasmine. She enjoys traveling, reading a
good novel, and spend


Richard Payne,  President
National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
937-396-5573 or 937/829/3368
Rchpay7 at gmail.com
The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back


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