Making a Difference: The Role of Realism, Perseverance and Requiring Less

By Donna W. Hill

http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3885

Song written by Donna about Passions (Click here)

Making a difference means challenging assumptions and expectations. To endure while bucking the tide requires Realism, perseverance and the ability to thrive with less support than others require.

Realism is embracing the negative and the positive. If we wear rose-colored glasses, we miss the things that are calling out for change, the places where we can truly make a difference. If we only see those places of lack, we miss the foundations upon which change can and must be made.

My quest is to challenge assumptions about what it means to be blind. Decades of technological innovation have enabled some blind people to excel in careers never dreamed possible like engineering, chemistry and auto mechanics. Nonetheless, unemployment remains stuck at seventy percent, Braille literacy has fallen to ten percent and society seems comfortable supporting most blind adults through government programs.

My weapon in the struggle is my ability to write about the people in the trenches who are slugging it out against low expectations and apathy. I challenge myself to be a better writer and a better editor.

The odds are against making much progress. Nonetheless, I proceed, because I know that there are many talented blind Americans who want to contribute to society and are turned away before being given a fair chance or an equal education.

I also know that Braille has inestimable value. I was one of those legally blind kids who was supposed to act sighted, even though it meant I read so slowly, that, had I wanted to finish my homework, I would have had time for nothing else., I had constant headaches from having to get so close to the book. Audio learning, which I began in college, is not literacy. Listening was what humans did before the written word. It took decades to repair the holes in my education.

When I began this journey several years ago, I would have never dreamed that the New York Times would feature a blind Wall Street executive calling for Braille’s abolishment! Nonetheless, it happened. Who am I to argue with someone who has achieved so much using no Braille whatsoever? Her secret is that she has assistants to read to her and to take her dictations and put them into English. Most of us don’t have funding for such luxuries, and many who do bristle at the thought of being so dependent. Nonetheless, that article was a springboard for discussions among blind people as well as for me to use in my writing.

If I don’t stay grounded in reality, I could easily fall into the trap of believing that my efforts are pointless. In order to persevere, to continue to be an advocate at the highest level of my abilities, I must set aside my need for immediate gratification. Certainly, things happen that encourage me, and people express their appreciation. I admit that I need that. I know, however, that I am capable of proceeding with a lower than average amount of re enforcement

On May 22nd, 2009, we interviewed Donna Hill about her Passioneer’s journey, and also featured her as a guest on our blog talk radio show, Passions and Possiblities on June 19th.   She is an author, singer/songwriter, recording artist, speaker and avid knitter in rural Pennsylvania. Donna started her music career as a street performer in Philadelphia, where she sang for thirteen years. Hear her music at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill.  Born blind, Donna works to foster understanding of and improve opportunities for blind Americans, as a volunteer publicist for the nonprofit Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind: http://www.padnfb.org. 

She is courageous, talented, creative, and extremely passions about the rights of blind Americans.  Learn more about her story below.

What’s Your Definition of Passion, Donna?

Something that you feel so deeply that you are compelled to act on it.

What Are Your Passions, and How Are You Expressing Them?

I have a passion for nature and am expressing that by living in the country on 17 ½ acres with a pond.  I’m just in love with frogs, which I never thought that I would be…We took a leap by moving out here.  As a blind person, it was a leap. I’d always wanted to live in the country. Many blind people live in the city because of the transportation and other services.

I played piano and guitar when I was supporting myself as a musician.  I’m doing the piano more nowadays.  My hands do numb up.  I had a long run in Philadelphia with music, and had three guide dogs during that time that all developed their own fan clubs.  It was wonderful!  That was my initial passion in terms of my music. I’m a songwriter, but I don’t support myself that way anymore.  I’m a semi-retired folk singer.  Writing music is definitely a passion of mine. I don’t “try” to write a song; very rarely do I try. Most of the time, it’s an inspiration, it’s what I feel so deeply that I can’t put it aside.  The song is within me and it needs to come out.  So I write and record it, and there it is.  It’s something that I do, it’s part of me.

Where I spend most of my time now is working for the rights of blind people in America -  to bring attention to the dire situation that most blind people are in. That’s the driving passion at this part of my life.  After I had cancer (diagnosed twice), I put a stop to my regular music career.   …At a certain point, you have to persevere.  What do you do if you don’t go forward in some way?

How Did You Come to Express Your Passion in this Way?

It was partially about trying to come to terms with what had happened in my own life with blindness issues.  A few years ago, I was speaking and singing at a Lion’s club convention; singing and talking to them about blindness to try to express in music about having goals and reaching your dreams.  I met this young lady who was also blind, just out of high school, who had gotten herself a job as a receptionist in the town where she lived. I found out that she was learning Braille through a correspondence  course.  “They didn’t teach me it at school,”  she said.  I thought things had changed…I felt so overwhelmed and thought ”this didn’t go away.”  When I was a kid, 50% of folks were taught Braille.  Most blind people don’t work, and those who do are Braille readers.  Yet people are turning their backs on this.

This is a civil justice movement:  I really think that the core is that people don’t really understand blindness; they’re afraid of it, they may have seen or heard something (about it) and they think that everyone’s like that.  They extrapolate. We really do have to change people’s minds.  It’s really a civil rights issue.  Americans view people with disabilities as fundamentally different from themselves, feeling fear and pity most often.

Most blind people, over 80%, grew up sighted and grew up with the general society’s image of blindness…Most of them believe that their life is over…that they no longer will be productive or happy…They have a deep core belief.  Getting beyond that deep core belief takes a lot.

There are blind people living productive lives, but we are in the shadows.  The media rarely present the issues.  The reason that it’s news?  It counters the belief that it’s possible.

We are an invisible, but growing minority.  One that includes people who have no incidence (of blindness) in their family.  We aren’t a separate group. We are part of the normal culture. But part of the normal culture that has been hereto for ignored.  It’s changing, but it’s not changing in a huge way.

If you look for prominent blind individuals who are on the national stage, politics, entertainment, there’s David Patterson of NY and Stevie Wonder, but I would ask you, where are the blind women?   We have a lot of young blind women who are entertainers in a lot of field; and they are still unknown and aren’t household words.  Young blind people need role models as they grow up.  The boys have some, but the girls don’t.

What’s Next for You Donna?

I’m doing a series of articles for the American Chronicle (http://www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3885)

Thanks Donna