[stylist] Article about NFB Braille Monitor editor, Barbara Pierce

Thu Jan 22 02:45:44 UTC 2009

Jim,
It's the Chronicle Enterprise, and the contact info is at the head of 
the article in my post. I think it's from Oberland, Ohio.
Donna

-- 
For my bio & to hear clips from The Last Straw:
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Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind
www.padnfb.org

James Canaday M.A. N6YR wrote:
> thanks for sharing this Donna. that is a very good article.
> what publication is that from?
> jc
>
> Jim Canaday M.A.
> Lawrence, KS
>
> At 08:54 AM 1/21/2009, you wrote:
>> Hi Everyone,
>> The article copied below is posted at:
>> http://www.chroniclet.com/2009/01/21/woman-devotes-life-to-helping-the-blind_122/ 
>>
>> Donna Hill
>>
>> Woman devotes life to helping the blind
>> John Light | The Chronicle-Telegram
>> Contact John Light at 329-7148 or
>> ctnews at chroniclet.com.
>>
>> OBERLIN — Barbara Pierce retired as president of the National 
>> Federation of the Blind of Ohio last November. Her work, however, is 
>> far from finished.
>>
>> Pierce, a resident of Oberlin, has been actively helping blind people 
>> for more three decades. She talks passionately of her work and of the 
>> issues she has
>> championed, although she feels that not nearly enough progress has 
>> been made.
>>
>> Pierce moved to Lorain County to attend Oberlin College in the early 
>> 1960s but she did not become involved in the federation until 1974, 
>> when she came across
>> its literature. After reading it, she said she had a new appreciation 
>> for the struggles that she and other blind people faced daily.
>>
>> “I realized, if I was honest with myself, that I talked a better game 
>> than I lived. I pretended that I was comfortable using a white cane 
>> and doing what
>> I needed to do to take care of my family and so on,” Pierce said. 
>> “But I found that here were people who were living boldly the life 
>> that I only sort of
>> pretended to live. … Here were people who were doing what I didn’t 
>> dare to do.
>>
>> “And then there were other blind people who absolutely were being 
>> discriminated against — having their children taken away from them, 
>> being told that they
>> couldn’t rent houses or rent apartments. … I just simply hadn’t had 
>> the hard time that a lot of people had, and I thought, ‘Well, I’m not 
>> pulling my weight.’
>> ”
>>
>> Within a few months, Pierce founded the Lorain County Chapter of the 
>> National Federation of the Blind of Ohio. And 10 years later, in 
>> 1984, she was elected
>> president of the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio, a position 
>> she held until last November, when she chose not to stand for 
>> re-election.
>>
>> Pierce also serves as editor of the National Federation’s monthly 
>> publication, The Braille Monitor, a position she plans to continue at 
>> least through the
>> end of the year.
>>
>> But while being heavily involved in her work at the state and 
>> national levels, Pierce has remained active locally as an advocate 
>> for inclusiveness in Lorain
>> County, said Brian Wilbert, Pierce’s friend and the pastor of Oberlin 
>> Christ Church.
>>
>> “You’re not going to get Barbara focused on handicaps or physical 
>> challenges,” Pierce said. “You’re going to get Barbara talking about 
>> how inclusiveness
>> is a way of life. … It’s not just one thing, it’s everything.
>>
>> “I don’t see her ever really retiring. I see her letting go of some 
>> of the administrative stuff, but I don’t see her ever really giving 
>> up helping people.
>> People call her that want to speak to her because they have a child 
>> that’s been born blind, or they themselves have gone blind and they 
>> want to know what
>> it’s like. She’s there to help people make that kind of transition.”
>>
>> Sherry Ruth, Pierce’s successor as president of the Lorain County 
>> chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio, relied on 
>> Pierce when she first
>> lost her sight.
>>
>> “I was very unsure of myself as to what I would do with the rest of 
>> my life,” Ruth said. “Barbara was a major inspiration to me by the 
>> way she traveled
>> independently and the way she kept her home, always baking and cooking.”
>>
>> Pierce takes a direct approach to helping people cope with becoming 
>> blind.
>>
>> “I get them to tell me what bothers them,” she said. “If they can’t 
>> dial a telephone, I can teach them over the telephone how to dial a 
>> telephone. You put
>> yourself in the other guy’s position and you try to think, ‘OK, what 
>> is it that bothers this person, and what can I suggest out of my 
>> experience that will
>> help get them grounded, let them know where to start?’ ”
>>
>> When asked how blindness affects someone’s life, Pierce replies that 
>> it doesn’t make the individual feel deprived.
>>
>> “When you’ve never had it, or you’ve lost it early on, or you’ve lost 
>> it gradually, you fill up the rest of your sensory world with the 
>> data that you have
>> that do come in,” she said. “The world is full no matter what your 
>> experience of it is.”
>>
>> Contact John Light at 329-7148 or ctnews at chroniclet.com.
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> For my bio & to hear clips from The Last Straw:
>> http://cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill
>>
>> Apple I-Tunes
>>
>> phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=259244374 
>>
>>
>> Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind
>> www.padnfb.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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