In an extended interview on the CBS Evening News, New York Gov. David Paterson tells Katie Couric he’s been blind practically since birth, with no vision in his left eye and extremely limited vision in his right. His mother didn’t want him to learn Braille, insisting that he attend public school and get no special treatment.

As a result, Paterson must ‘read’ by listening to aides’ recorded messages on his phone, and relies heavily on memorization while making speeches.

On disability: “Being the first disabled governor who is able to display the disability and not have political ramifications that are negative is a real milestone.”

On employment: “I’m blind, but only 29 percent of blind people are employed in our society. Of the deaf people in our society, only 10 percent have jobs. And yet, in both cases, our educational performance exceeds the national average in our society.”

(Screen capture from CBS video)

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 10:32 am and is filed under blindness/visual impairments, celebrities, employment, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post