[nfbwatlk] Blind Legislator-Elect Cites Education as Key to Success, The Philadelphia News, November 29, 2012

[Albert Sanchez]

Is this fellow active in the  Affiliate? A.S.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nightingale, Noel" <Noel.Nightingale at ed.gov>
To: <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2012 2:03 PM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Blind Legislator-Elect Cites Education as Key to 
Success, The Philadelphia News, November 29, 2012


>
> Link:
> http://thephilanews.com/blind-legislator-elect-cites-education-as-key-to-success-36083.htm
>
> Text:
> Blind Legislator-Elect Cites Education as Key to Success
> November 29, 2012
> By Kathryn McConnell
> Staff Writer
>
> Blind since childhood, Cyrus Habib says he "won the lottery of life." 
> That's because he was born to parents with college educations, grew up in 
> a neighborhood free from poverty and went to good public schools in 
> Bellevue, Washington.
>
> The advantages Habib had early in life formed the basis for his desire 
> later on to work so that all students in Washington state could have the 
> opportunity to obtain the education and job skills they need to compete in 
> the world's highly competitive marketplace, he said.
>
> "Our greatest challenge is to build a 21st-century education system that 
> ensures that every child can fulfill his or her potential," said Habib, 
> 31, who is believed to be the first American of Iranian descent elected to 
> a state legislature. He noted that education is important from the first 
> years of life, when cognitive skills develop, through college.
>
> Habib lost the sight in one eye to a rare form of cancer as an infant. By 
> age 8 and another bout with cancer he had lost all of his sight. He 
> credits Washington state human services offices for giving him the 
> opportunities to learn to use a blind walking cane, the Braille reading 
> system and a computer with adaptive software.
>
> He was first inspired to go into public service during secondary school 
> and volunteered with the campaign to elect Gary Locke as America's first 
> Chinese-American governor. Locke is now U.S. ambassador to China.
>
> While at Columbia University in New York where he studied comparative 
> literature, Habib interned for Washington Senator Maria Cantwell and, 
> later, for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who represented New York. There 
> he helped individuals and businesses displaced by the terrorist attack on 
> New York City in 2001 to relocate to neighboring states.
>
> After graduating, Habib studied English literature for three years at 
> Oxford University in England as a Rhodes scholar. He returned to the 
> United States to study law at Yale University with the goal of going into 
> the profession of his Iranian-born mother. His Iranian-born father is an 
> engineer at Boeing Company, which manufactures aircraft.
>
> Habib and a fellow Rotarian staff an ice cream booth at a community event 
> to raise money for the Bellevue Rotary Club.
>
> "Were it not for our public school system, I would never have been able to 
> go from Braille to Yale," he said in an interview with the Public Affairs 
> Alliance of Iranian Americans. At Yale, Habib became interested in the 
> role that currency plays in accessibility. He testified before the House 
> of Representatives Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary 
> Policy, Trade and Technology about making dollar bills accessible to 
> people with low or no vision.
>
> Dollar bills are only distinguishable visually, the disability advocate 
> said. "The inability of blind Americans to use U.S. currency independently 
> precludes them from participating in entry-level jobs necessary for 
> financial independence," he told the subcommittee.
>
> The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered the U.S. 
> Treasury Department to come up with a remedy in the next currency 
> redesign, but the concept of changing the currency is being resisted by 
> groups representing the vending machine industry and banks, Habib said.
>
> With a law degree, Habib returned to Bellevue, which is part of the 
> Seattle metropolitan area. He joined a law firm specializing in helping 
> entrepreneurs establish technology companies. He noted that the metro area 
> is a high-tech hub and home to the headquarters or major divisions of such 
> companies as Microsoft Corporation, Google Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and 
> Nintendo of America Inc. - all companies that employ workers with skills 
> in the so-called STEM subject areas of science, technology, engineering 
> and mathematics. He likes the area, he said, where about one-third of the 
> population is foreign-born. He counts as friends people of various ethnic 
> and religious backgrounds.
>
> Habib said the experience of working on the currency issue taught him the 
> importance of addressing the concerns of all stakeholders in an issue. 
> "The mark of a good legislator is the ability to listen and to understand 
> and move through it to solve a problem," said the state 
> representative-elect, who will take office January 14, 2013.
>
> A member of Bellevue's Human Services Commission, Habib is active in his 
> community's service-oriented Rotary Club. He said his election to the 
> legislature is a milestone for young Iranian Americans and encourages more 
> to become active in public service.
>
> "As a person of color, a son of immigrants and a person with a disability, 
> my love of the United States is rooted above all in the fundamental 
> principal of equality before the law," he wrote during his campaign.
>
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