After ten years as an Employment Specialist at Mattingly Edge, I have a new job: DeafBlind Employment Specialist for the Helen Keller National Center.
https://www.helenkeller.org/hknc/
My role will be much the same - assisting adults with disabilities to prepare for and find meaningful employment so that they are better prepared to take part in the good life that we all hope to have. It's just now, the people I support will be more specifically in the DeafBlind realm. (And, fyi, DeafBlind, spelled just like that, is the way our job candidates and clients preferred to be identified.)
I'm so grateful for the opportunity to work with Mattingly Edge these last ten years. They are doing the meaningful work of fighting for justice and opportunities for all. They truly recognize how deeply true it is that our diversity makes us great and that equal opportunities for all is a basic human rights issue. I'll continue to be a fan of my colleagues there.
And, I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have this new role at HKNC. I've always been a fan of Helen Keller and the work she started (note - she didn't start this specific organization, which has been around since 1967, a year before her death) of seeking equity, inclusion and justice for all. She was such a strong and intelligent woman and a great writer. In addition to her work on behalf of those with disabilities, she was also a warrior in the fight for rights and the vote for women and a radical devotee of the better ideals of socialism (equal opportunity for all, justice for all, systems put in to place to make such things possible). So, to honor this new beginning, I'll start with some Helen Keller quotes.
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.”
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”
“Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.”
“A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn.” [!!]
"It can't be unreasonable to ask of a society a fair chance for all. It can't be unreasonable to demand the protection of women and children and an honest wage for all."
If you're not familiar with Keller, now's a good time to start reading. She would greatly approve!
“The few own the many because they possess the means of livelihood of all ... The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor. The majority of mankind are working people. So long as their fair demands - the ownership and control of their livelihoods - are set at naught, we can have neither men's rights nor women's rights. The majority of mankind is ground down by industrial oppression in order that the small remnant may live in ease.”
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”
“Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.”
“A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn.” [!!]
"It can't be unreasonable to ask of a society a fair chance for all. It can't be unreasonable to demand the protection of women and children and an honest wage for all."
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”
If you're not familiar with Keller, now's a good time to start reading. She would greatly approve!
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