For decades, the most important concept in disability equity has been nothing about us without us. Recently, some in our community have begun using nothing without us as their call to action. The sad reality that most agencies for the blind aren’t run by blind people is an affront to both concepts of disability equity and is offensive to me personally.
While the title of this post seemingly focuses on state agencies for the blind, my strong view is that all agencies dedicated to increasing access for those of us who are blind or low vision should be lead by someone who is a member of our community. This includes schools for the blind, guide dog schools, training centers for the blind, assistive technology companies, and every government agency, nonprofit, or business dedicated to improving access and opportunity for those of us who are blind.
The simple truth is that no one can advocate for us as well as we can advocate for ourselves. No one can develop products for us as well as we can develop products for ourselves.
When organizations claim they are dedicated to helping us but they aren’t and maybe never have been led by a member of our community, those organizations fail to send the message that we are capable. If those organizations will not allow us to have leadership of them, how can they advocate for us to take leadership roles in other places? If those organizations don’t give us the final say over products designed to provide us greater access, those products are likely to not help us as much as they otherwise could.
I would love to see us, as a community, demand that every state agency for the blind be run by a blind person. Starting with state agencies makes sense because government agencies have a duty to be more responsive to the public than do nonprofits or businesses. Also, we can apply political pressure to agencies that are reluctant to let us lead our agencies.
Once we are successful in ensuring that every state agency dedicated to helping us is lead by us, we will have an easier time bringing this truth to the for profit and nonprofit worlds. But we have to start somewhere. So, I urge all of us to take a stand against sighted leadership of our government agencies.