My Journey of Discovery, Risk, and Reward

by Jesse Shirek

From the Editor: Jesse Shirek is the newest member of the government affairs team in the Advocacy and Policy Department at the NFB Jernigan Institute in Baltimore. He was originally hired to work with the NFB-NEWSLINE® team after proving himself in multiple technology and affiliate leadership roles. Here is what Jesse had to say to the national convention:

My path to our national convention stage has been a journey of discovery; of risk and reward.

I have served in many capacities in the National Federation of the Blind, including serving on the national scholarship committee and as NFB of North Dakota affiliate president. My dreams came true when I was invited to become a national staff member in 2021, advancing our NFB-NEWSLINE program.

Let me take you back to my first job delivering newspapers in North Dakota at age twelve. Yes, people used to be paid to deliver newspapers. What do you think is the biggest struggle for a blind person delivering a newspaper? I bet you cannot guess. The biting thirty-below-zero cold? Uh-uh. Trying to keep your eyes open, walking a mile at 5:00 a.m. every morning? Not it. The hardest thing is watching your father read the newspaper that you just delivered. You are separated by those pages; you cannot read the words on the page because you are blind. As a young blind person, there were many things out of my reach. I did not believe I could hold a job at a restaurant, give a speech, graduate from a university, convince a congressman to cosponsor legislation, and I did not believe I could downhill ski. But yet I have done all of these things and many more. [Applause] Each milestone I conquered involved risk, physical or emotional. I was terrified starting out, and in some cases, the first and second time, I failed.

Let me tell you about learning to downhill ski. This activity involves risk, in my case more to other skiers than myself. If you have not skied blind, you are matched with a person, hopefully an advanced skier, to give instructions like “turn left, turn right, slow down, stop, stop, STOP!” I skied the beginner hill for a half-hour, feeling shaky and nervous. We went up the ski lift to the intermediate hill. What could possibly go wrong? My first run, gravity took over and I slid under the orange fence meant to keep me out of the trees. I made my way down with my guide and was willing to give it a second chance. On the next run, he told me to turn left. I turned left. I sensed someone in front of me and quickly shifted right. I felt two bumps under my skis. I realized I just ran over someone’s skis and I hit the ground. I sat there shocked. I then heard a familiar voice say, “What was that?” Her ski guide, Dale, responded, “That would be your boyfriend.” My now wife, Sherry, with her infinite wisdom, said to her guide, “Dale, you have to teach him how to ski. His ski guide does not know what he’s doing and he’s going to kill somebody.” With Dale’s good instructions, soon I was skiing from the top of the mountain. I share the story because I want to remind us there is no reward without risk. It is always important to get up when we crash, and be careful who we trust to guide us. If we want to find success as a blind person, look within our Federation family. Reach out and ask for help. And be guided down the mountain by a fellow Federationist.

Each person in this room guides government affairs as we ski our legislative priorities down the mountain. We share what issues are important to blind people. We share personal stories. Legislation is crafted based on the collective experience of our movement, and our leadership formulates a plan.

You may have guessed that I have traversed my way from NFB-NEWSLINE to government affairs. I have two major areas to move: autonomous vehicles and Social Security.

We will get the Blind Americans Return to Work Act introduced in Congress. This legislation affects blind people who receive Social Security disability benefits. Currently there is a limit to the amount of money a blind person can earn each month before completely losing their benefits; it is called substantial gainful activity or SGA. We refer to this as the earnings cliff because we, as blind people, are harmed by the earnings cliff if we fall off. For example, if a blind person receives $1,000 in disability benefits, you would lose $12,000 in earning potential. That's what it looks like to fall off the earnings cliff.

Blind people are limiting our opportunities because we don't want to fall off the earnings cliff.

Our movement wants to make working less risky for blind people. [Applause] We are asking the government to eliminate the earnings cliff. [Applause] We propose a two-for-one phase-out. For every two dollars of income that a blind person earns after SGA, you would give back one dollar of benefits. We would gradually be moved down the hill to full employment without the need for benefits. [Applause] When this legislation is introduced, we will hear about it through our many channels of communication. And we will call on the organized blind movement to contact our congressmen and senators to ask them to cosponsor our legislation.

I want to encourage each of us: take some risks in our lives. Help the National Federation of the Blind with our advocacy efforts. We cannot expect the future to change unless we are willing to change our beliefs, question what is possible, try something new, push harder. We have a strong voice. Our voice matters! I challenge each of us: change our future! Push forward our priorities today! Thank you!