“I have been blind since birth. I was born in New Orleans and there was an LSU program for parents of visually impaired.  My sister is sighted and four years older than me and my parents learned to treat us the same and expect just as much out of me. I started pre-school at three and learned braille. We moved to Mobile in 4th grade and I was mainstreamed into classes. The Regional School for the Deaf and Blind was housed at Baker and provided support services.  I took advanced and AP courses excelled in school. I graduated sixth in my class of 260 at Baker. 

I wanted to work in top 40 radio at a station like WABB so I majored in broadcasting at Spring Hill and volunteered for the radio reading service at WHIL. Volunteers read books, magazines and newspapers for the blind. Radio regulations changed by the time I got out of college and it was going to be hard to find jobs, so I looked for a job as a volunteer coordinator. I struggled with saying I was blind in cover letters because I may not get the interview. Or do I get the interview and surprise them that I am blind? They may be so thrown off they can’t really see me for who I am. Sometimes you wish they could ask about your disability.

One of my first jobs was with Volunteer Guardians where volunteers become legal guardians for incapacitated adults. If you don’t have family or your family is exploitative, then Volunteer Guardians can help with medical, financial, and nursing home decisions. It became a part of Area on Aging and a social worker took it over. The program has grown a lot but they are in desperate need of volunteers. 

I now work at United Way coordinating the Volunteer Connect program and the free tax prep program. I have been trained by the IRS and work with VITA, the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. We operate seven sites in Mobile County and people who make under $55,000 a year can make an appointment to have their taxes done by volunteers for free. We have approximately 30 dedicated volunteers and they did 1,347 tax returns last year. I don’t do a lot of tax returns because I can’t see the paper, but I do review and oversight.  I also train volunteers and stand in front of a room and teach. I don’t lecture because I can’t look at their faces to see if they are lost or zoned out. My classes are interactive and you are going to get called on. 

I love my job and telling people about refunds or helping them make corrections and changes to save them money on taxes the next year. Some people are coming from rough neighborhoods and difficult situations and may be up to their eyeballs in payday loans. They lay their finances and lives in front of us and we care about them where they are.  Life is hard and they still survive. It is a world some of us don’t know exists. My job is to help them see how they can make their financial life a little better so next year they are in a better place filing taxes

We also have to work through difficult issues of people cheating the system. They don’t have taxable income, so they sell their kids’ social security numbers.  Someone else puts the kid on their taxes, the refund goes up because of the kid and they split the refund. Prisoners who don’t file taxes sell their social security numbers and are claimed as a dependent. We don’t work with them if we know they are currently doing things like this, but we work with them later when the IRS catches on and they have to pay it off.  Sometimes they have gotten bad advice from a bad tax preparer. You don’t know what someone’s situation is and I am not any better than anyone who needs my help.

I am the chair of the steering committee for the Taxpayer Opportunity Network. I go across the country doing trainings and fly by myself. I need assistance changing planes and getting around the airport, but I can make it. I have learned to trust, but verify. I don’t take Uber because I can’t do that. 

I am also a reader at my church. I have a good life and pay my own bills. Either you are going to make it or not in this life. Blind people are very underemployed and many don’t get out into the world. I am grateful to my parents for raising me to have a job, pay my bills and be a productive member of society. I don’t think of anything I do as extraordinary. It is just what I have always done and what is the other option? I get bored sitting at home and watching bad TV. If I could have surgery and have my sight back, I don’t know if I would do it. My brain has never learned how to see. Being blind for 43 years is how I became who I am. The hardest part is not being able to drive. It is 9:30 at night and I am craving Foosackly’s, but I can’t get it. Mobile is not a travel-friendly city. My family, friends and roommate help me get around.

I don’t mind people asking questions about me being blind. I would rather them ask questions and understand than just make something up. At the end of the day, we are just people. We just have to figure out a different way to do certain things. I take life a day at a time. Plan too hard, and it may not go the way you plan.  I have what I need and do the work I enjoy.”