[blindkid] Fwd: blind law maker

Dr. Denise M Robinson deniserob at gmail.com
Thu Mar 7 13:57:19 UTC 2013


YES Heidi...it is about training...YES, YES, YES....accommodations mean
your child will most likely NEVER or have great difficulty in  competing
with the rest of the world at the same level and speed....training means
your child WILL be able to compete with the rest of the world on the same
level and speed.

Ok, do accommodations until the training kicks in---but get that
training---that is true for sighted people too.

Denise

On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 8:25 AM, <hpscheffer at aol.com> wrote:

> Great article, recently I read somewhere that it is about accessibility
> and training and not about accommodations, I personally agree.
>
>
> Heidi
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Denise Robinson <deniserob at gmail.com>
> To: Blind Kid Mailing List <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thu, Mar 7, 2013 6:24 am
> Subject: [blindkid] Fwd: blind law maker
>
>
> Thought everyone would enjoy this story below
>
> Denise M Robinson
> Sent from my iPad
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> > From: "Albert J Rizzi" <albert at myblindspot.org>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Link:
> >
> http://www.the-news-leader.com/ap%20general%20news/2013/03/05/for-blind-lawmaker-biography-reflects-in-policy
> >
> > Text:
> > For blind lawmaker, biography reflects in policy MIKE BAKER Associated
> Press
> > Published: March 5, 2013
> >
> > OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- Behind his sunglasses, Rep. Cyrus Habib is
> reaching
> back in memory, trying to recall the name of another fully blind
> politician who
> came before him.
> >
> > This was someone who served many years ago, Habib recalls. In the U.S.
> Senate.
> The grandfather of writer Gore Vidal. Habib rattles off a few details
> before
> surrendering: "Let me look him up."
> >
> > Turning to a laptop that provides him constant audio feedback, Habib
> needs
> just 23 seconds to launch his Internet browser, run a query and find the
> information he's looking for -- a biographical overview of former Oklahoma
> Sen.
> Thomas Gore.
> >
> > "There's a picture of him here from 1908," he says. "How does he look?"
> >
> > At just 31 years old, Habib has mastered skills to bypass the
> limitations of
> his disability, and that has allowed him to trace a remarkable life
> trajectory.
> At age 8, he completely lost his eyesight to cancer but nonetheless went
> on to
> become a black belt in Karate, a jazz pianist, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford,
> an
> editor of the law review at Yale and an attorney at a prestigious
> Seattle-based
> firm.
> >
> > Now he's Washington state's first blind lawmaker in decades, and his life
> story is in many ways reflected in the policies he's now championing.
> >
> > ___
> >
> > Half-jokingly, Habib says that he imagines everyone still looks like
> Cyndi
> Lauper and Boy George -- celebrities from the last time he was able to see.
> >
> > He was just 4 months old when his parents received his cancer diagnosis.
> It
> was retinoblastoma, a rare form of cancer affecting the retina that
> typically
> strikes children. He lost sight in one eye when he was 2 and spent much of
> his
> childhood in painful medical procedures and grueling chemotherapy.
> >
> > Habib's treatment came from a range of specialists, including leading
> doctors
> at Johns Hopkins, New York Hospital and the Wills Eye Institute in
> Philadelphia
> -- all largely covered by his engineer father's medical insurance.
> >
> > Now, the care he received as a child is something Habib considers as the
> Legislature explores ways to provide medical coverage for children.
> >
> > "It is unthinkable to me that there would be a child, God forbid, that
> would
> experience a life-threatening illness and not have health insurance," he
> said.
> >
> > Despite all the medical intervention, Habib's vision deteriorated, and
> the
> retinoblastoma ultimately forced doctors to remove his retina at age 8. It
> didn't come as a surprise to him. And today he offers an optimist's
> reflection
> on the loss, saying it came at perhaps an ideal age, when he was old
> enough to
> retain a strong visual archive of his surroundings but young enough to
> adapt.
> >
> > The family soon afterward moved from Baltimore across the country to the
> Bellevue area, where Habib began his new challenge of trying to live a
> normal
> life without sight.
> >
> > His mother, Susan Amini, recalls the day he came home from Somerset
> Elementary
> School in the third grade and complained about his recess teacher. Fearful
> of
> his safety, the teacher wouldn't let him on the play-yard jungle gym and
> instead
> kept him close by and away from the other kids. He wanted to be out on the
> gym
> and jumping on obstacles like his peers.
> >
> > Amini went to the school, signed a waiver releasing the school of
> liability if
> her son got hurt and then the two spent evenings and weekends learning the
> playground, including safe ways to navigate the jungle gym and the
> location of a
> tree stump that had sharp edges. Instead of avoiding the obstacles, he
> sought
> them out, even when his mother wasn't there to watch him.
> >
> > "When I would go pick him up, he would be the one on top of everything,"
> she
> said.
> >
> > ___
> >
> > In developing the skills to cope, Habib received a variety of training,
> and he
> makes sure to note where.
> >
> > He learned to use a walking cane from the Washington State Department of
> Services for the Blind. Borrowing books from the Washington Talking Book &
> Braille Library helped him master reading. He learned how to use
> text-to-speech
> software through training at the Washington State School for the Blind.
> >
> > Without those state-supported opportunities, Habib says, he couldn't
> have gone
> from "braille to Yale."
> >
> > Now, as Washington lawmakers look to find new money to pay for basic
> education
> in the state, one proposed place to get extra cash is to cut social
> services.
> Habib said he rejects the premise that education and social services are
> competing interests and that they actually work together.
> >
> > "I get very worried because my own biography leads me to believe that,
> especially for those children whose challenges are most pressing, social
> services are often what make the critical difference," Habib said. "It's
> going
> to be very difficult for a student, no matter how good their teacher is and
> principal is, it's going to be very difficult for them to learn if they are
> couch-surfing with their parents at night."
> >
> > ___
> >
> > At a recent hearing of the House Technology & Economic Development
> committee,
> lawmakers rapidly moved through a series of bills. Each had extensive
> written
> summaries and some included dense amendments.
> >
> > One was a major tax-incentive initiative that Habib himself proposed.
> >
> > In his seat on the committee, where Habib serves as vice chair, he
> sometimes
> leaned over to whisper to colleagues. Occasionally, fellow Rep. Gael
> Tarleton
> guided his hand to the right spot on sheets of paper where official votes
> get
> recorded. But, mostly, Habib was on his own, with his sunglasses on, laptop
> opened in front of him and a small earbud in one ear.
> >
> > His text-to-speech software chirps at him in an almost indecipherable
> way,
> moving so quickly that an untrained ear can only catch parts of what the
> computer is saying. But Habib has no troubles keeping pace.
> >
> > The software helps him to handle the massive volumes of reading required
> of
> lawmakers, allowing him to rapidly skim through even the lengthiest bills,
> and
> keep abreast of changes in their wording. In his ear, the voice changes in
> pitch
> when encountering things like words that have been selected for elimination
> under a proposed law.
> >
> > Habib is apparently the first blind lawmaker in the Legislature in more
> than
> 50 years, when Francis Pearson was representing southwest Washington.
> >
> > Even though Habib is a freshman, he has stood out. The Democrat was
> named as
> the vice chair of the technology and economic development committee
> because of
> his expertise on legal issues in that sector. At the Seattle law firm
> Perkins
> Coie, he focused his work on start-up technology companies, working on
> issues
> such as licensing and technology.
> >
> > One of his first proposed laws this year was a plan to create a $1
> million
> annual business tax deduction to start-up ventures, targeting high-tech and
> manufacturing industries that may be poised for long-term job growth.
> >
> > Republican Rep. Norma Smith said she has been working over the years to
> develop ways to spur such economic growth. When Habib came into the
> Legislature
> with similar ideas, she noted, he quickly reached out to colleagues to get
> input
> and develop a plan.
> >
> > "What I've appreciated is his willingness to listen thoughtfully when
> someone
> else has a different viewpoint and to craft a solution that reaches that
> common
> ground," Smith said.
> >
> > Habib's bill passed out of committee with bipartisan support.
> >
> > While Habib sometimes uses his walking cane around the Capitol, he often
> shuttles from hearings to the House floor hooked to the arm of a staff
> member or
> colleague -- sometimes a Republican. He said it was one of the
> misunderstood
> benefits of his blindness, allowing people of different perspectives to
> come
> together and discuss issues.
> >
> > "I take the opportunity to walk with them," Habib said. "That creates a
> bond
> and reminds us that we're really all going to the same place."
> >
> > ___
> >
> > Follow AP Writer Mike Baker on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/HiPpEV
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-- 
*Dr Denise*

Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
CEO, TechVision, LLC
Specialist in Technology/Training/Teaching for blind/low vision
423-573-6413

Website with hundreds of informational articles & lessons on PC, Office
products, Mac, iPad/iTools and more, all done with
keystrokes: www.yourtechvision.com

"The person who says it cannot be done, shouldn't interrupt the one who is
doing it." --Chinese Proverb

Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid: humans are incredibly
slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond
imagination.
--Albert Einstein

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
--Walt Disney



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