From the Director

 
If we as blind and visually impaired Iowans are to achieve the full participation we want, we must change the public’s attitudes about blindness. This is no easy task. We know, however, that learning happens best through stories and personal connections. That’s why our oral history project is so important. Not only will it document changes over the past century, but it will also stand as testimony to the accomplishments of ordinary blind and visually impaired Iowans.

Already we have 10 in-depth interviews recorded as well as 11 shorter ones. The stories, the candid expressions of emotion and opinion, and the delightful anecdotes contained in these interviews guarantee a rich and varied collection, which I believe will add both depth and breadth to the understanding of blindness.

The stories are telling not of hopeless, helpless and dependent lives, but of challenges met, of work, and family and fun, of hardships overcome—stories not so different from those of sighted Iowans.

Through several narrations, we see glimpses of life growing up as a blind child in public school, and the joys and sorrows of being sent to a residential school far from home. We see one person earning a living with her music, another providing child care, and a third putting herself through law school. We see adaptations made in everyday life to accommodate vision loss, and a wedding dress made using those adaptations. We glimpse at life with a blind spouse from the sighted spouse’s perspective. We see how advances in technology put one man out of a job and provided another the platform for an excellent career.

Please consider sharing your story. We need it to add your personal dimension to this history. Trained interviewers will make it easy, and you can review the transcript and block anything you don’t want shared.

Advances in technology are making this collection possible. Those same advances are making their way into all aspects of our lives, giving us as blind and visually impaired people access unheard of a few years ago.

Sincerely,

Karen Keninger