June 05, 2019
From the CEO's Desk - Conviction to act
Since I started working with ABBF, I have had an overwhelming experience from people who have loved our work, appreciated what we do, and have reconfirmed our faith in the cause. For me personally, that is as fulfilling as seeing someone with disability experience a sport for the first time. Then there are a few corporates who resonate with the cause and support us whole heartedly.
Now you'd think that things are fairly going the way we want to - enough appreciation, corporates who support, what could be missing?
I was a a running event this morning. There was a lot of chatter around a recently organized Marathon that was organized for raising awareness about preventable blindness. This marathon encourages participants to run blindfolded along with a running ally. At the run today, a lot of folks tried the blindfold run. Reactions ranged from "amazing experience", "wow my speed increased", and "this is tough but fun".
I proceeded to ask some of the running allies if they would partner real life blind folks for marathons where just removing a blindfold to get your sight back is not an option. I was met with awkward silence and hestitating responses.
How do we get that conviction to act to back the exhilarating experience and the appreciation? Why is it not easy to say yes to give a blind person the same experience which a sighted yet blindfolded person just described as amazing?