Blind students react to success of NY's David Paterson
NECN Broadcast on March 13, 2008 from Perkins School for the Blind: Click here to watch video
(NECN: Watertown, Mass.) - On Monday, Lt. governor David Paterson will take the oath of office. He will be New York's first African American governor and only the second governor with a disability since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Paterson is legally blind and the visually impaired in New England hope he will blaze the trail for others in the community.
NECN's Ally Donnelly has more.
Script: Before this week, and a sex scandal that toppled the reign of New York governor Eliot Spitzer, Corey Kadlik had no idea who David Paterson was.
Paterson is the Lieutenant Governor of New York and Monday, he will be sworn in as Governor. The first African-American to head the Empire State, and the country's first blind governor.
"I know mountain climbers, I know bike riders, I know blind people who do everything but, governor? That's awesome."
53-year-old Paterson is legally blind. He had an ear infection as a child that damaged his optic nerve. He cannot see anything out of his left eye and, with his right, he can only see people close up.
Gruiette: "I think it's a good opportunity for the sighted community to see what blind people can do."
19-year-old Leslie gruiette can see shades of light. She and Kadlik are students at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts --- the country's first school for the visually impaired.
"It's such a confidence booster to everyone."
Kadlik hopes Paterson sets a good example not only for the sighted, but also his own community. According to the National Association for the Blind, 70% of blind people are either unemployed or underemployed.
"It shows that -- not only setting the example that they can work, but that they can do any job they put their mind to."
The folks here at Perkins know what a large media market New York is and hope, as Paterson's post continues, that there will be more and more stories not only on Paterson but of the world --the larger community of the blind and visually impaired.
"People will then learn, well gee, how does he read, how does he use a computer?"
Jim Magliozzi teaches at Perkins, he says as more and more of the disabled take high-profile positions -- he hopes the people, not their disabilities --- become the focus of attention.
Three years from now, if he's running for reelection, we expect that he'll be running based on the fact that he was a good governor, not because he's a blind governor.
And he says, if a blind governor can make it in New York, he can make it anywhere.