[Tall-Corn] Reform Required: Iowa's Handlings of Sexual Misconduct

[Elizabeth Rouse]

Dear affiliate members,
I am writing to you this evening with a heavy heart and a hope to see reform in our state in the coming days, weeks, and months.
Attached to this email, you can find a PDF copy of an article, recently published in the Des Moines Register, which highlights the sexual misconduct that has plagued both the National Federation of the Blind of Iowa and the Iowa Department for the Blind for many years.
Many of you will recognize the name of Katy Olsen, a 2016 national scholarship finalist, immediate past president of the Iowa Association of Blind Students, previous 2nd Vice President of NFBI, former IDB employee, and survivor of sexual assault/misconduct. Those who know Katy recognize her brave, kind, and determined personality in the text of this article, which could not in any way have been easy to recount. Therefore, it breaks my heart to first read this article and then discover that not one individual from the Iowa affiliate or department has reached out to Katy to thank her for sharing her story of resilience, offer her support through all that she has endured, or, frankly, apologize for not protecting Katy from her past inappropriate experiences in our affiliate—a group that is supposed to boost one another up, not hold a fellow Federationist’s head under water, simply standing by to watch her drown. Multiple predators named in this article served on our affiliate board in previous years. What does that say about us, especially considering these men were voted into office after knowledge of their behaviors was known by both general members of our affiliate and our elected leadership?
It is my sincere hope that many of you take the time to read this article and reflect on the role you currently play in our state. The time for reform has come, and I am ready to be a part of making Iowa a place where I can be proud to have roots. As a survivor myself and an ally of all sexual assault victims, I hope those of you who are ready to face the reality that our state is fostering the problem instead of making it better, will come forward in the future to make your desires for change known. My voice is loud, but it will not make a difference alone. I am sad to say that many who have spoken up previously never felt their voices were heard and have since left our group as a means of self-preservation. Personally, I am ashamed and deeply sorry that these individuals did not feel like they were cared for enough to stick around.
The old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We need to own up to the fact that our system has been broken for far too long. It is on each of us to work together to fix this broken system.
Yours in the Federation,
Elizabeth
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