The National Federation of the Blind of Maryland knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future.
Reach out and touch some hearts
By Yasmin Reyazuddin
One of the most important tasks in the National federation of the blind is to reach out to other blind people who do not know us.
We do this task little by little and one person at a time.
Last May, I went to a program to talk about the NFB and its many services. I asked the children to come and play with me a Braille game. I have these blocks where the pins could be pushed up or down to make the Braille alphabets. The game was that the children had to write their names in Braille and I had to figure them out. There were about 50 children who played this game.
Some of the children came back for more and they wrote” this is fun” and similar sentences.
Time passed and it was October. I heard about a little girl who was the lone survivor of a bomb attack in Afghanistan. The girl had extensive face injuries and lost her eyes. I tried to reach out and meet this girl. It was not the right time.
In January, the little girl got out of the hospital and was placed with a family. Among the many people who took responsibility for caring for this girl was the sister of one of the woman who had heard me last May.
The two sisters talked about how one was inspired by my presentation. The sister caring for Aisha contacted me and asked if I could meet with her.
As I knew the story already I invited her and Aisha to my office. I gave Nilofer some information on how to get a white cane from the NFB and other services. I also told her about the NFB BELL camp in Maryland.
Aisha has been going to pre-school and is learning English. She is a bundle of joy as she plays like any other child. She has registered for NFB BELL camp this summer. The host family is also very happy with the progress she has made in the last 6 months. Aisha will be starting school this fall.
Her care givers and the host family give me credit for inspiring and introducing them to the federation philosophy.
I give them credit that they opened their hearts and minds to the invisible us. So, lets reach out and touch someone’s heart. We never know who may be inspired by our actions.