Laura Wolke:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lot of my job was just to listen to really hard situations, even if you had no way of solving the problem, and show that just because you\u2019re a service provider doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t see them as a human being. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pete:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She didn\u2019t begin with the career she wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:
I didn\u2019t have the ability to detach the way that I think you need to do if you\u2019re doing that work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pete:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But she found the career she was destined for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before I had this really sort of narrow understanding of what somebody did with a law degree, and it was like you\u2019re either a prosecutor or you do criminal defense, or you maybe work for a company. You can get a JD and never, ever practice law, and it\u2019s still a super helpful degree. You can become a politician, which I would never do. You could be on a board, and advise a hospital. You can write policy. There\u2019s just so many things you can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pete:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meet Laura Wolke, law student-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was able to finally get all of the accommodations that I requested, but I had to appeal twice. It was truly unbelievable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pete:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-lawyer-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think my graduation from law school, for them, was really this point where they could be like \u201cWe did our job, we were good parents, she\u2019s going to be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pete:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court- <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was standing on the train platform for 30th Street station, which is underground and you have no cell service, and so my phone rang, all I heard was \u201cHi, this is-\u201d but then the phone went dead. So I had to agonizingly wait. Justice Thomas does a few rounds of interviews, so she was calling to schedule that first screener interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pete:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-and old friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff Thompson:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who ever thought that doing woodworking with me at Blind Incorporated would lead to this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It gave me the confidence, Jeff. I just take saws and just, you know, bust down barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
There you go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pete:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now let\u2019s join Jeff Thompson and his guest, old friend Laura Wolke, as she shares her journey-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are places that I\u2019ve been to a thousand times. I mean, I can daydream, I can listen to music and walk there, like, I have been there a thousand times, and everything is different now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was really motivated. It was easy for me to study, I got excited about going, and that was a big sign for me that I was doing the right thing, because, you know, if you can\u2019t be excited about the fun stuff, you\u2019re probably not going to be able to do the really boring or the really stressful stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pete:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-to her most recent pinnacle of achievement as a clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recording of man at Supreme Court:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-the Honorable Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, oh yea, oh yea, oh yea, God save the United States and this honorable court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Welcome to Blind Abilities, I\u2019m Jeff Thompson. Today in the studio we have- oh, how should I introduce you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:
Um, best person ever and friend that you missed most deeply?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There we go! This must be Laura Wolke, how\u2019re you doing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m good, how are you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m doing great. Hey, great presentation you gave for the NFB, I\u2019ve got to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:
Thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recording of Laura Wolke at NFB:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank you so much, President Riccobono, I\u2019m already laughing because all of my friends know that I\u2019m very not into pop culture, and you managed to pick one of like three modern songs that I actually know, so job well done already!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You know, you\u2019ve come a long way, you\u2019re working for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, did the internship with him last summer, and this wasn\u2019t your first choice of occupation, being a lawyer, I remember when you left Blind Incorporated and you went off and became, I would say a social worker of sorts? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mm-hm, yep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But you weren\u2019t satisfied with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, I was originally planning on going to get my PhD and then becoming some sort of counselor or psychologist or something, and then- yeah, I was doing social work, I was living in Philadelphia, and so my consumers were people who had some sort of disability and are also in various Medicaid programs, so we helped to do case management for them. You know, we tried to get accessibility modifications to their homes and stuff like that, but there were also a lot of other issues that were going on with consumers, and a lot of my job was just to listen to really hard situations, even if you had no way of solving the problem, it was just to be someone who actively cared about them and would call, and just check in and, you know, show that just because you\u2019re a service provider doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t see them as a human being. I really loved it, but I didn\u2019t have the ability to detach the way that I think you need to do if you\u2019re doing that work, so I just spent all of my emotional energy working with my client consumers, and then I\u2019d come back and my friend would be like \u201cI had a really hard day, can we chat?\u201d and I\u2019d be like \u201cActually, I\u2019m so exhausted, can I please just go to sleep?\u201d And over a couple years I just was like I can\u2019t, I mean, I\u2019m not cut out for this, I admire so much the people who do it, because in order to be caring to the people that you\u2019re providing services to, and then also be able to care for yourself, you have to be so emotionally mature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It just shows that you weren\u2019t ready to settle, because you\u2019re employed now, you\u2019re, you know, hit the big time, working, and had all that going for you. You wanted something more, what made you change your route, your journey, and go on to become a lawyer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:
I actually went to this conference at Notre Dame, which is where I ended up going to law school. It was like a conference on bioethics, which is something that has always really interested me from a Catholic point of view\u2014I\u2019m also Catholic. It was all of these different professions talking about all of these different issues, so there was a medical doctor, theologians, all these different people, and there was also this law professor. He started talking about all this stuff, just really interesting- the policies around bioethics. It\u2019s actually really interesting, because you\u2019re starting to see, in pretty sad ways, some of this stuff coming out during the COVID crisis. I found his talk really fascinating, and I had lunch with him. Before I had this really sort of narrow understanding of what somebody did with a law degree, and it was like, oh, you\u2019re either a prosecutor or you do criminal defense, or you maybe work for a company. He sort of really helped me to realize you can get a JD and never, ever practice law, and it\u2019s still a super helpful degree. You can become a politician, which I would never do. You could be on a board, and advise a hospital, or whatever. There\u2019s just so many things you can do, you can write policy, so that got me really excited. It was really funny, because the conference was, I believe, in late June, I came back from it and I bought all these LSAT books, the LSAT is the test you have to take in order to get into law school, and I just called my parents and I was like \u201cI\u2019m going to take the LSAT and go to law school.\u201d I was not really sure what their response would be, and they were just kind of like \u201cOkay,\u201d and I was like \u201cWhat- aren\u2019t you a little surprised?\u201d And they were like \u201cNo, actually, we\u2019ve sort of been waiting for you to come to this conclusion, we\u2019re glad you finally came around to knowing that this is what you\u2019re suited to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They had a running bet-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow long is this going to take?\u201d So then it was just funny, because it was like I was really motivated. It was easy for me to study, I got excited about going, and that was a big sign for me that I was doing the right thing, because, you know, if you can\u2019t be excited about the fun stuff, you\u2019re probably not going to be able to do the really boring or the really stressful stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Mm-hm. You\u2019re an avid Braille reader yourself?
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:
Yes, I am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How was the accessibility to do the LSAT?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I took it at the time when there ended up being a huge class action, which was covered by the tests that I took. I was able to finally get all of the accommodations that I requested, but I had to appeal twice. It was truly unbelievable. I took the test at the University of Pennsylvania, which is a huge school, tons of resources. At the time that I took it, there was a part of the test that the writing portion- as an accommodation I asked to be able to use my laptop since I can\u2019t write by hand. They were like \u201cYes, but you have to bring your own printer.\u201d I was like \u201cOkay, I live by myself, I\u2019m already bringing my Perkins Brailler, a laptop, Braille paper, whatever, you know? This is an Ivy League school in Philadelphia, you\u2019re really telling me that I can\u2019t connect to a printer?\u201d And they were like \u201cNo, you have to bring your own printer.\u201d Which I didn\u2019t even own, I didn\u2019t own a printer. So I had to borrow a printer from a friend, and then my parents, thankfully, I was, you know, fortunate enough that they lived an hour away, so they drove down and took me and my entire van full of equipment, because also- they also gave you one practice exam, which was in Braille, so it\u2019s quite large, it was this huge stack of books, and you had to bring that exam back the day of your test or you were fined some exorbitant amount of money. So, all in all, I just had this incredible amount of stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ve got to get a U-Haul just to go take a test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:
Yeah, basically, just to take the test, and it took us multiple trips to bring everything in. It was definitely not the worst, I\u2019ve heard so much worse testing accommodation stories and I consider myself pretty lucky, but, I mean, I\u2019ve been totally blind since I was 15 months old, and even to submit the accommodation- as I said, I took a few years off, I took the LSAT when I was 25. I had to go all the way back to my elementary school- I went to public school, and so I had an IEP, and they made me submit my IEPs as part of my accommodations packet. And again, thankfully, I\u2019ve lived in the same place forever, I have kept extremely good records, like my dad literally had a file called I think \u201cLaura\u2019s IEPs,\u201d but it\u2019s just such an incredible entry barrier, especially because I didn\u2019t have a condition that changed at all, like I have friends and colleagues who used to not use assistive technology, they would use low vision technology, magnification stuff, and over time they\u2019ve switched, and things are so much harder for them because their needs have changed over time, and so it just sends up these flags, like why do you need this now, and you didn\u2019t before? It\u2019s interesting, one of the big pieces of advice I give now when I talk to younger- like, high school age and middle school, it\u2019s like \u201cYou have no idea what your career path is, whatever it is, you need to start saving these.\u201d Like, if you send an email to a principal, \u201cI need this accommodation,\u201d you know, or even especially now with COVID, everything needs to be kept, and kept as records, because whether you take the GRE or go into law, or if you have to continue taking exams that require accommodations, unless something fundamental changes, they\u2019re going to keep asking you to go back, like all the way back, to your SATs, and your AP tests, all- like, I had to do all that stuff. So, it definitely is a worthwhile thing to start compiling all of that stuff in one place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh, yeah, it\u2019s amazing the hurdles and barricades and brick walls. Did they know that you were going to work for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas?
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, because did I know? Absolutely not! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How did that come about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh my gosh, so-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, congratulations on shooting for your- you know you wanted to get your law degree, and you did, so congratulations on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank you, yeah, it was- a thing I\u2019ll say is I never even thought that having a clerkship at the Supreme Court was a possibility, and not to say, oh, I undercut myself, or whatever, it\u2019s just a very rare opportunity, and it\u2019s statistically not very probable at all that you will have one, and so it was never something that even crossed my mind. The justice came to Notre Dame when I was a 1L, which is the first year of law school. He gave a talk to our constitutional law class. I just admire his life story, it\u2019s just so incredible. Unfortunately his memoir, even though it was a bestseller, is not available on Audible or Kindle or anything like that, but if anyone is able to access his memoir either through Bookshare or other means, I do really recommend it, because he\u2019s a Black man from Georgia, and he grew up in segregation, experienced really severe racism, sometimes, he was very poor, did not have indoor plumbing, things that, you know, are very hard for me to even imagine. The things that come through when you meet him, or in his book or anyone who has ever known him, is that he has obviously been formed by those experiences, but he is not angry or bitter. He\u2019s just such a joyful person, his laugh is one of the most amazing laughs I\u2019ve ever heard in my life, and it\u2019s very infectious, and so I\u2019ve always admired him just on a personal level, because I have a personality that tends to struggle with getting jaded or cynical or sarcastic, and so reading about someone who had gone through things that I would- I mean, it\u2019s never good to compare, but I would objectively say are much harder struggles and hardships, and see how he came out the other side very loving and joyful was something I was like \u201cWow, I would really love to learn how to emulate that.\u201d So then he came to Notre Dame, and I got to hear him talk, and I don\u2019t know, it just sort of planted this seed of wow, it would just be such an amazing dream to meet him, not even work for him but just to meet him and talk about some of these things. I did very well at law school, and so I graduated in a place where I could have conversations with my professors about maybe this would be possible, but it really just is- like, you really are taking a giant leap of faith and a shot in the dark, because there are so many applications and you never know when they\u2019re going to be actually looking to hire. There\u2019s just so many unknowns that you just have to do it and put your trust, and just be detached. That\u2019s what everyone told me, like, apply and then don\u2019t think about it again. Overwhelmingly, the chances are that you will never get called. You apply to all of the justices, which I did, and then you wait, and wait, and wait and wait, sometimes for a very long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And you didn\u2019t think about it at all, did you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No- okay, I definitely thought about it- actually, okay, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019re you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn\u2019t think about it as much as I thought I would, let\u2019s say that. I was better at it than I thought I would be. But yeah, I definitely thought about it a lot. Look, this is like Murphy\u2019s Law. I feel like any time you\u2019re waiting for an unexpected phone call, that\u2019s when all of the scammers and- scammers, they know, right? They know. Because you\u2019re going to answer your phone, no matter how weird the number looks, you\u2019re going to answer it, because what if it\u2019s the call that\u2019s saying, \u201cWe\u2019d like you to come in for an interview,\u201d you know? That was the thing, it was like every time my phone rang I kind of had this startled reflex, like [gasps], you know, and it would be my mom, and I would be super sad, no offense, mom. And so, a good amount of time went by, and I was actually home visiting a friend in Philadelphia, and I was standing on the train platform for 30th Street station, which is underground and you have no cell service, and so my phone rang, and I answered it, and all I heard was \u201cHi, this is-.\u201d It was clear that it was a real phone call, but then the phone went dead. So I had to agonizingly wait for the train to pull out of the station and get out of the tunnel, and that\u2019s when I found out that I- Justice Thomas does a few rounds of interviews, so before you go to the court for your final interview you talk to some other former clerks and things like that, and so she was calling to schedule that first screener interview. And so it was pretty awesome, I was freaking out on the train and I was all by myself sending these frantic texts to friends and my family, because I couldn\u2019t call, I was on the quiet car so I couldn\u2019t call anybody, you know, and then after the screening interview was another really long waiting game. Sorry, this is a very long story, but it just goes to show you the amount of providence it takes. I was in DC working for another judge, there was a seminar- a constitutional law seminar about originalism, which is a form of constitutional interpretation. I went to the seminar, and the justice actually gave a talk to us there. So I met him, and actually got to chat for a short amount of time-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice T.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:
Yeah. And then shortly thereafter, he called, and I came in for my interview. So, I really believe that if all of those things- if I didn\u2019t go to the seminar, if I wasn\u2019t at- Notre Dame has a number of professors who clerked for Justice Thomas who have an amazing relationship with him, you know, it\u2019s all of these things that have to fall into place to get to even the option that you even get selected for an interview, let alone get to get hired. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who ever thought that doing woodworking with me at Blind Incorporated would lead to this? Wow, that\u2019s-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It gave me the confidence, Jeff. I just take saws and just, you know, bust down barriers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There you go, impressive. Hearing your journey, I remember when you got the job, oh, okay, she\u2019s a social worker, cool, she got a job, you know? That was huge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was at your house! Do you remember that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, yeah, they called!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah! I was at your house because I was there for a wedding and you guys hosted me, and I do, I remember how excited I was, because I had been unemployed for a while and it was really hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just that point of getting jobs and all the parents out there and everything know what that would be like, you know, and what did your dad say when you graduated from law school?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, I made a friend in law school, she\u2019s like a mom, a friend, so she\u2019s got grown kids of her own, and she kind of took me under her- like, she would invite me over to their house and feed me nice home cooked meals, and just, she was a true friend but also very much a mom figure. And so when I had my graduation, she invited, you know, my sister and my parents were in town, my best friend from law school came, Francesca, and then I had a couple other friends from other departments who she invited over. I should mention, they have I think seven children, so they have this beautiful, big, rectangular dining room table that\u2019s just so warm and communal and we just had a meal there. My dad, he gets pretty emotional sometimes, and he was just saying that they\u2019ve always been extremely invested in my education, I have heard the stories from my first cane teacher\u2014again, so I\u2019m 33, I was diagnosed before the ADA was even passed, my parents had no idea, there was no internet no easily accessible resources, when I\u2019m eight months old and I get my diagnosis, my dad already picked up the phone and started calling people and being like \u201cHow can we get her to go to a public school?\u201d He didn\u2019t know about Braille, how does she learn how to read, all these things, again, it just got me started off on this amazing track. Now this is very common, or it should be common, but I started using a cane when I was two, and I started reading Braille when I was three, just like any other child learns how to walk and read starting at that age, and so, you know, I always grew up in this house where I was expected to do everything that my siblings were doing in terms of chores and homework, and they always said \u201cYou\u2019re expected to do, and you can do whatever your sister does,\u201d I have a twin sister, they always instilled that in me, and they believed in me when I went to college, and when I got my job, and then when I graduated law school- and I didn\u2019t have my clerkship yet when I graduated law school, but when I graduated law school I think my dad said something like, you know, you grow up and you tell your children that you believe in them, and that you have faith, everything\u2019s going to be fine, and this philosophical idea that you can do whatever you put your mind to. You don\u2019t really realize how much you didn\u2019t actually believe it until it\u2019s happening. And I think my graduation from law school for them was really this point where they could be like \u201cWe did our job, we were good parents, she\u2019s going to be fine.\u201d I think it\u2019s why I have this soft spot for parents who have blind children or other children with disabilities, because, yeah, your whole life is to be a cheerleader for your child, and to just- sometimes, you have to put your fears down and you have to put on this brave face even if you\u2019re not feeling so brave so that they can be brave and courageous, and I really benefited from that from my parents, and it was kind of very striking for me to hear that from them, like in a really nice way, they had their hard times too, you know, and they really had to make these acts of trust the way that I was. Like I said, I went through a period where I was unemployed, and I got rejected from tons and tons of jobs, even in law school it was really hard for me to get a firm to hire me at one point. There have been periods of my life where I just had to keep digging deep and being like \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how many people discriminate against you, it doesn\u2019t matter how many times you get rejected, you keep plowing ahead.\u201d I think it was that sort of grit that they instilled in me that allowed me to do that, and then to hear that they also too were sometimes just sort of white-knuckling it was sort of- it was a nice way to bond, I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, that\u2019s great. Even when you\u2019re talking about hunting for a condo or a house, you\u2019ve ran into some people that said \u201cOh, what, you\u2019re blind?\u201d Even though you\u2019ve done all you\u2019ve done, have all these credits and everything, it\u2019s like \u201cOh, but, you\u2019re blind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All they see is that, yeah. Or it\u2019s like, there\u2019s this joke where people- I mean, I\u2019m not saying this because I think this is true, but people have sometimes paid me compliments, being like \u201cOh, you\u2019re so humble.\u201d There\u2019s people who if they\u2019ve clerked at the Supreme Court, they\u2019re like \u201cOh, I\u2019m the best,\u201d and I\u2019m just like, yeah, you know, it\u2019s kind of hard, not that I want to be like that, but it\u2019s like when people still congratulate you for tying your shoe or walking upstairs, it\u2019s kind of hard to get a big head, you know? It\u2019s like- because no matter what you do, to most people they\u2019re unfortunately still seeing you as this person who it\u2019s just sort of miraculous- not too far in the past, I went to a salon, and the woman asked me when my bus for the nursing home was going to pick me up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did she add grey to your hair?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe! I mean I guess I should check! But I\u2019m just like, again, this is where I come back to what do you do? Obviously that\u2019s offensive, and I\u2019m just like are you kidding? Did you not see me walk in or the way that I\u2019m dressed, or any of the things that we\u2019ve talked about while you were cutting my hair? I guess none of that matters? But it\u2019s like you have to laugh, because it\u2019s the only way that you, for me, cannot let it just beat you down and eat you up. I know I have my friends, I know I have the people in my corner, obviously there\u2019s tons and tons of work to do, but you\u2019ve just got to have this mindset where you can kind of see the absurdity of that comment and hope that next time a blind person walks in she\u2019ll not make that assumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff: Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, exactly. It\u2019s a pretty frustrating thing, to have that kind of no matter what new enterprise you\u2019re entering into, you still get people acting like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff: Laura: Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every once in a while you want to turn to them and say, \u201cThat was so 1997!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, yeah, no, I don\u2019t want to misrepresent myself, I definitely lose it with people sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n So tell me about Justice T, now you told me a story a while back, but he\u2019s experienced some people with disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n He had a very good friend who had polio way before the ADA, or anything being accessible. He was the chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the 80s. He spent a lot of time on accessibility. It\u2019s really interesting, because a lot of the things that he did are things that we as people with disabilities see as extremely important, like for instance his committees were made up of people who actually had disabilities, so that the input they were getting was not from contractors and stuff, it was like \u201cOh, I\u2019m Deaf or hard of hearing, and this is what I need,\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m a little person, this is what I need,\u201d you know, that was very progressive with a lowercase p for the time, and he really did a lot of work to transform at least the building and also some of the policies to be focused on people with disabilities, and so I think if someone has exposure either to someone that they\u2019re very close to who has a disability, or they themselves have just experienced hardship or a deep minority status, the discrimination that can come from that, it can make someone just very intuitively aware of things that are problems or obstacles. I knew from the very first moment that I started working that- I think a lot of blind people carry this fear, I certainly have in the past, that let\u2019s say if my JAWS crashes or if something happens and I can\u2019t do the work, that that will translate into the person thinking \u201cYou\u2019re a bad employee,\u201d or \u201cI shouldn\u2019t have hired you because you\u2019re not as reliable as an able-bodied employee.\u201d I never had that fear with him, because it was always very clear, the difference between something that was a problem- he was able to see that an assistive technology is just that, it\u2019s an assistive technology fail, just like if someone\u2019s computer, you know, malfunctions or something like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or the escalator or elevator-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura: Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or a click ruler in woodworking gets stuck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura: Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s amazing how when you woke up, you get your transportation to go to work, the people at your work, the people that surround you, and when you go to the restaurants nearby and stuff, how many people you are impacting and bringing awareness to blindness by who you are, what you\u2019re doing, how you carry yourself. People use the word \u201cAmbassador\u201d or something like that, but whether you like it or not, you\u2019re representing the blind community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s true. You know, as I said, it can definitely be tiring, because there are days when, you know, I\u2019m grumpy, or I\u2019m tired, I\u2019m stressed, and you know, you feel guilty if you snap at someone or, you know\u2014because you\u2019re like, oh gosh, they\u2019re going to think- now I just fed into the stereotype that all blind people are mean. That\u2019s not true, it\u2019s just that we\u2019re human, you know, but I talked a little bit about this when I talked at the NFB, I mean, I think it\u2019s so true, work is obviously extremely important, going to school, extremely, extremely important, but there\u2019s just so much more to life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Recording of Laura Wolke at NFB:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I firmly believe that this opportunity would not have been possible for me if I was not a member of many communities. Faith-based communities, specific engagement communities, sports, whatever, whatever it is that makes you feel alive, and makes you feel like you are flourishing, and what truly interests you about life, we need to be including ourselves and integrating ourselves into those communities. A lot of times there is this understanding that we focus on where the barriers are and we say, you know \u201cThere\u2019s barriers to education, so we have to talk to the educators. There\u2019s barriers to employment, we have to talk to the employers, we have to talk to the developers,\u201d and that is very true, very necessary, very, very important hard work that is being done. But the fact remains that educators do not spend 100% of their time educating, and web developers do not spend 100% of their time web developing. They are human beings, and they are going out into communities, and they are living their lives in robust and rich ways, and the more blind people that are out there that they can encounter in any capacity whatsoever, that makes a huge difference, and by all of us doing that we just increase the odds that the next time someone is hiring- let\u2019s say they even casually mention it at a dinner party, that someone is going to say \u201cYeah, I know a blind person, that candidate is competent.\u201d Just because they are blind, it does not mean they can\u2019t do the job, or play the sport, or take the leadership role, or go to Harvard Law School, as we heard earlier this evening. I just really encourage anyone who\u2019s out there listening tonight, if there has ever been something that you have wanted to try, but you have been holding yourself back for fear of what it would be like to try to get into that community, I really encourage you to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember one of the people I\u2019ve met- I run, as well, and so I run with a guide who\u2019s sighted. I always ask people \u201cWhy did you get into this?\u201d One of them told me \u201cYeah, I got into it because I went on a history walk in DC, instead of a nature walk it\u2019s all of the historical events that have taken place in DC, and there was this blind guy there with a cane, and I had just assumed that he had someone with him, or that they would provide him with someone, and they didn\u2019t, so he just came up to me and was like \u2018Hi, I either have to go home, or could I walk with you during this history walk?\u2019\u201d And she was like \u201cI just thought that was so cool, I never thought about a blind person wanting to go on a history walk where you\u2019re just looking at stuff,\u201d and then she was like \u201cWell, I really like to run, and I bet blind people run,\u201d and sure enough, we do! So it\u2019s just something that simple, like that guy probably wasn\u2019t going out that day thinking \u201cI\u2019m going to change someone\u2019s point of view on blindness, I\u2019m just doing what I want to do.\u201d We can do really small things that have a really huge impact, even if it\u2019s not a full-fledged change on how people view blindness, it\u2019s like they might just go like \u201cHuh. Wow, that\u2019s interesting.\u201d It just moves them that one step closer to losing this view that to be blind means you probably just sit at home and you\u2019re completely dependent on people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mm-hm. Well, thank you for changing the opinion of so many people, and DC, the land of Oz out there! How\u2019s your transportation out there now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura: Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You know, you mentioned so many good tips for everyone earlier, what advice would you give to someone who\u2019s in that transition age group, 14 to 21, as they\u2019re looking forward to their own future?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, I would definitely say, and I know I sort of spoke about this earlier, but do not be discouraged by rejection, because unfortunately it is the case that you probably will experience it for reasons unrelated to your merit, and that\u2019s just the sad thing that we have to deal with, but like everything else, you can learn really amazing things about yourself. For instance, I think I applied for more than 30 jobs my first year of law school for a summer internship, and I got one offer. So that was a pretty humiliating experience. I learned a lot of really valuable things, I learned how to tell when someone was not wanting to ask about assistive tech but they clearly need to know about it because they had doubts, and I also think I learned how to be funnier, how to put people at ease, and there\u2019s all these skills you might need to learn that maybe, perhaps, we shouldn\u2019t have to learn but we might need to in practicality and they can make you into a richer and more fun person, like just a better friend, a more empathic person, a person who can more intuitively understand when someone\u2019s going through a hard time, we can take these things that we need to learn through virtue of us having a disability and we can turn them into gifts that we can share with others that make us really, really, really good friends, and daughters, and family members and things. I would say you can be discouraged by rejection, just don\u2019t let it stop you, and have a good sounding board where you can just vent it all out and get rid of it, and you can go to sleep or eat some ice cream or whatever you need to do, I did both of those a lot. And then just wake up and start again. So you know, that\u2019s number one, and number two, I remember it\u2019s getting farther and farther in my past, but I definitely remember what it was like going through those times and everyone just wants to, like, \u201cWhat are you going to do, what are you going to major in, where are you going to go, do you know what\u2019s next?\u201d And those are really heavy questions, sometimes you don\u2019t know the answer, like it\u2019s very, it\u2019s a huge pressure that\u2019s put on you, and all these people are well-meaning but I really do encourage you to just find something fun. You can find this hobby that really is an outlet, and you can still be a great blind role model, or you can meet great people who will be on your team forever, like they\u2019ll be in your corner and you can go to them for help and advice, but it doesn\u2019t have to be related to anything school-wise or career-wise, it can just be, like, knitting, or a book club, or whatever, whatever it is you want to do. I just really strongly recommend that we all do what we can to branch out and to be involved in a lot of activities. I also think that can be a safer place if you are feeling a little nervous or a little uncomfortable. Some types of social settings, like if it\u2019s an organized event or things like that, you know, they can be a safer place where you can try to venture forward and build up some of your confidence skills, and skills like just saying \u201cHi, I need an accommodation so I can go to this event.\u201d And if you practice doing those, you\u2019ll gain confidence, and it\u2019s a skill that will always help you whether it\u2019s with education or employment or home buying or whatever, having the skills to sort of feel confident in asking for whatever you need are really vital, and doing it in the context of then getting something fun out of it, it\u2019s a much more rewarding experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s great advice. You mentioned your parents feeling like they\u2019d done their job when you graduated from law school, what advice would you give parents?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura: Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Great information. Laura, congratulations on all your accomplishments and you\u2019ve still got a lot more to go, looking for housing! What another level-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura: Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, I\u2019m sure it will be. Another address for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exactly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, thank you so much for sharing your story on Blind Abilities, and thanks for taking the time to come on here. It\u2019s great talking to you, and-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n -we\u2019ll continue staying in touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Laura:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Awesome, thank you so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pete:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks so much to Laura Wolke for joining us on Blind Abilities. Her story of achievement and rising to the level that she has this early in her career is inspiring, and the special friendship that she and Jeff Thompson share is refreshing. I\u2019m sure that Laura will be joining us again in the not-too-distant future to give us an update on her law career, and any other words of wisdom that she chooses to share. In the meantime, thank you all so much for listening, and from all of us here at Blind Abilities, through these challenging times, to you, your family, and friends, stay well, stay informed, and stay strong. Thank you so much for listening, and have a great day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [Music] [Transition noise] -When we share<\/p>\n\n\n\n -What we see<\/p>\n\n\n\n -Through each other’s eyes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n [Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]<\/p>\n\n\n\n …We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more podcasts with the blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter @BlindAbilities. Download our app from the app store Blind Abilities, that’s two words, or send us an email at info@blindabilities.com. Thanks for listening.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email<\/a> or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Check out the Blind Abilities Community<\/a>on Facebook, the Blind Abilities Page<\/a>, and the Career Resources for the Blind and Visually Impaired<\/a> group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Full Transcript Laura Wolke: A lot of my job was just to listen to really hard situations, even if you had no way of solving the problem, and show that just because you\u2019re a service provider doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t see them as a human being. Pete: She didn\u2019t begin with the career she wanted. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6227","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P6rcRg-1Cr","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4568,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=4568","url_meta":{"origin":6227,"position":0},"title":"A Chat with Laura Hernandez: A Comedian, A Poet and An Advocate for Social Justice","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"July 31, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Speaker 1:Welcome to Blind Abilities. Meet Laura Hernandez. Laura Hernandez:I really enjoy comedy and making people laugh and spreading that type of medicine. I see it as healing medicine, to make people laugh. Speaker 1:A comedian. Laura Hernandez:I do a lot of storytelling. A lot of it is\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6580,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=6580","url_meta":{"origin":6227,"position":1},"title":"How a Journey Through Vision Loss Prepared Laura Allen to Become Head of Strategy for Accessibility and Disability Inclusion at Google","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"March 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcription Laura Allen: -where now I spend really all of my time on sort of cross-organizational strategy and working on helping to bring alignment and understanding across the different teams working on accessibility, and on disability inclusion. Jeff Thompson: Please welcome Laura Allen. Laura: I happen to be low\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7235,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=7235","url_meta":{"origin":6227,"position":2},"title":"Taking on Blindness, Stepping Back and Stepping Up \u2013 Meet Sree Roy: Assistive Volunteer Extraordinaire","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"March 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Sree: One of the things I did ask my employer was to give me an illuminated keyboard. I made some changes to my computer to get the mouse cursor to be as large as it can be.\u00a0 Pete: Sree Roy, an engineer at the peak of his employment.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4637,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=4637","url_meta":{"origin":6227,"position":3},"title":"Meet Mike Kelly: Persistent in His Drive to Fight Any and All Challenges, and Ultimately Persevere","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"March 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Pete Lane:Welcome to Blind Abilities. This is Pete Lane. My guest today is Mike Kelly, and his story promises to evoke an emotional response on the part of you, our listeners. Mike Kelly:I got hit by a car. I was in traction for a couple months, then I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4658,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=4658","url_meta":{"origin":6227,"position":4},"title":"Introducing Richard Turner – World Famous Card Mechanic: Finding The Possible in Impossible","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"March 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript: Pete Lane:Introducing Richard Turner. He is a world-famous card shark, a card mechanic. Speaker 2:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A mechanic is somebody who can fix something. An auto mechanic fixes a car. I'm a card mechanic. I can fix a card game. Speaker 3:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ace of cards, Richard Turner. Speaker 4:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9351,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=9351","url_meta":{"origin":6227,"position":5},"title":"Blind Abilities – The Musical: O&M and the Scarlet letter B","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"January 31, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Podcast Summary: Blind Abilities \u2013 The Musical: O&M and the Scarlet Letter B explores the deeply personal moment when a white cane shifts from symbol to tool, from stigma to freedom. Through music, storytelling, and candid conversation, the episode traces the emotional arc of orientation and mobility\u2014hesitation, acceptance, learning, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Image of 5 fictional anchors on a musical stage theater.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Blind-Abilities-The-Musical-Image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Blind-Abilities-The-Musical-Image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Blind-Abilities-The-Musical-Image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Blind-Abilities-The-Musical-Image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Blind-Abilities-The-Musical-Image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Blind-Abilities-The-Musical-Image.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6228,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6227\/revisions\/6228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Kind of like Hawthorne\u2019s book The Scarlet Letter<\/em>, B. Rewrite that a little bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think that\u2019s something good for people to understand, though, even though you might be 14 to 24 years old, transitioning into college and your journeys way ahead of you, or if they went to a training center, they think they\u2019re going to come out of there being that ninja traveler and the world\u2019s going to see you totally different, some of that doesn\u2019t change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absolutely, or even just the things like, for me, with COVID, I mean, there are places that I\u2019ve been to a thousand times. I mean, I can daydream, I can listen to music and walk there, like, I have been there a thousand times, and everything is different now. There\u2019s entrances that are locked. I went home for my parents, to see my parents, and I came back and they had installed this big plexiglass protective barrier around the concierge at the front desk, so I went to go get a package, and I just sort of reached my hands out and hit the plexiglass with the back of my hand. So everything- we live in this totally different world now, like with COVID, I\u2019m sure that I look a lot less confident to people than I formerly did, walking around to all these places, because no matter whether it\u2019s age, you know, whether you start noticing wow, my hearing isn\u2019t as good as it used to be, or your memory, there\u2019s not as much cognitive space to hold information about new places. Everything is always changing, and so even if you can be super ninja blind person in certain areas of your life, some of that might slip in other areas, and it\u2019s going to be fine, because as long as you just know to expect it that people are going to still kind of come up to you and make comments, and you don\u2019t let that be a distraction. You just know it\u2019s coming, so you\u2019re not taken off guard by it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exactly, or there were actually times when, you know, a server goes down and everybody\u2019s out of luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes! Yeah, so it\u2019s like, I never had those fears, and it was very liberating to just know that, thankfully also nothing ever became a problem to the extent that I wasn\u2019t able to get my work done, but I think it just took so much stress off of me to know that I was doing something that the technology was sort of being pushed to its limits and everybody at the court was learning very quickly, and admirably about how assistive technology works and that if something were to go wrong, we would just pull together as a team instead of having the blame be pushed on me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, in the land of COVID, it\u2019s a pretty interesting world. The metro- like, we have a metro, we have buses, they\u2019re basically back up to running normal schedules again, Uber and Lyft also kind of disappeared for a while, and they\u2019re back as well. We don\u2019t have to talk about the masking vs not masking thing, but I\u2019m a big fan of masks, and it\u2019s important to me, for- to feel comfortable, when I go out in public, to know that people around me are wearing masks. That\u2019s been a new and interesting frontier of blindness. When I\u2019m on the metro, I don\u2019t know what people are doing, I just don\u2019t know. Whereas in an Uber, I guess you still don\u2019t technically know, but I\u2019m sure all of us know at this point when someone\u2019s wearing a mask it does change their speech patterns a little. You can ask them and the chances that someone\u2019s going to outright lie to you- I mean, there\u2019s probably some people who would do that, and then you can roll the window down, you can ventilate your car even if you aren\u2019t 100% sure. So this has been an interesting thing for me where I at least for the short term just felt more comfortable in not using large-scale public transit and using more rideshares and things like that. I remember feeling a little bit guilty about that, when I first started doing it, being like oh, my gosh, I\u2019m supposed to be this independent blind person, I\u2019m supposed to take the metro. I have talked to a number of blind people who have expressed something similar. We almost feel like we\u2019re regressing, a little, just because so many things about the world are different. I just decided, I need to reframe this, it\u2019s not that I\u2019m regressing, because if I was regressing I just wouldn\u2019t be going outside at all, it\u2019s just that things about my comfort level are changed. Like, this is a tool, and I have it, and if things change tomorrow and there\u2019s a vaccine or COVID goes away- I mean, those things aren\u2019t going to happen tomorrow, obviously, but I can go back to using the metro. But there\u2019s no shame in feeling like I only feel comfortable walking places or getting rideshares. Anyway, that\u2019s not a super great answer to your question, except to say that I really do think COVID has taught me that even though I\u2019ve been out and independent for 15 years, obviously this is a very striking thing that has happened, but whether you might move to the suburbs and things totally change, or whatever it might be, it\u2019s just like, flexibility is key, and not to get bogged down in there\u2019s this one way to be independent, and if you change anything about that, you are giving up this image of independent blindness, because there are actually many, many ways of being independent, and we all have different experiences and different things that form our comfort levels, and as long as you know when you should be pushing your comfort level there\u2019s nothing wrong with trying out different sets of independent skills depending on what your current needs are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think being in touch with other parents who are also raising either blind children or children with different disabilities is super key, and also if you can find young blind people, like young adults or- it doesn\u2019t actually matter what age they are, I think so many of us are just so happy to help and to pass on the torch. I think sometimes, like what I learned from doing social work is just having someone who is listening to you, who is not- let\u2019s say you\u2019re having trouble with your child\u2019s teachers and you feel like they\u2019re just giving you the back of the hand or dismissing you, even just having someone to talk to who is not doing that can give you so much more energy to keep fighting because it just gets really tiring, I know, hearing over and over again \u201cYou\u2019re being unreasonable\u201d or \u201cWe can\u2019t provide this,\u201d you know they can. I think finding blind people to talk to or parents who are raising blind kids is so important- yeah, I think that\u2019s my main advice. And then the other thing, too, is just, you know, I think having peers who don\u2019t have disabilities- this kind of happened naturally with me and my sister because we\u2019re twins and she\u2019s sighted, but I think having peers who do not have disabilities, it\u2019s a good way if you don\u2019t have other children to know that your child is acting age appropriately. You know, there are definitely some things that I had to get corrected out of my behavior when I was a child, just doing things at the right time. So, like, a good example is, when I was a kid, I started reading Braille when I was like three or four. Well, now, kids start using tablets and things when they\u2019re two, and maybe you\u2019re a parent who decides \u201cI don\u2019t want to do that, I want to delay screen time,\u201d and that\u2019s fine, but if you\u2019re not, you know, then your two-year-old blind child needs to be playing on a tablet because that\u2019s what two-year-olds are doing. You can sub in anything for that, whatever it is, if it\u2019s like \u201cOkay, we live in a suburb, and there\u2019s, like, at the end of the street there\u2019s this town center, and all the kids go there and they hang out.\u201d Well, if that\u2019s what 13-year-olds are doing, and you feel comfortable, and you would make that decision for a sighted child, then that\u2019s what your blind child should be doing. And so I just think having close able-bodied peers for your children is a really good way to know whether you might be holding your child to a different standard than you otherwise would if they were sighted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, I\u2019ll have to check back with you to see if this ends up being successful, but I\u2019m hoping it will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\nContact Your State Services<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Contact:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities<\/a>
On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com<\/a>
Send us an email<\/a>
Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store<\/a>and Google Play Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n