Weighing Things Up: Essays on Trends, Technology, and Present–Day Society

INTRODUCTION

This is my fourth published book. The first two were My Home Away from Home: Life at Perkins School for the Blind (©2013) and What We Love to Eat (©2012), a cookbook containing recipes that were all contributed by blind cooks.

My third book was As I See It: From a Blind Man’s Perspective (Revised and Expanded Edition, ©2013). That book contains 35 essays having to do with issues and problems affecting the blind: adaptive technology, employment, legislation, myths about the blind, transportation costs, and much more.

Over the past several years, I have written dozens of articles for Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind, as well as for my own newsletter, The Consumer Vision. Many of those articles, of course, have to do with the world of the blind. But many others address issues which affect all of us in modern society—young and old, blind and sighted. A few of my general topics are holidays, medicine, religion, schooling, social trends, and sports.

My editor is Leonore H. Dvorkin, of Denver, Colorado. For this book, she and I assembled most of those Matilda Ziegler articles, as well as many of my Consumer Vision articles, for a total of more than 100 short opinion pieces. Leonore added numerous editor’s notes, most of them with links to online articles. Those were included in the interest of backing me up, adding more information, and occasionally presenting the other side of an issue.

I don’t expect all my readers to agree with my opinions. After all, what is the point of putting your opinions out into the world if you know that all your potential readers will agree with you 100 percent? Instead, what I hope is that this collection of my thoughts, as well as the added notes and articles, will simply make others think, as well as provide them with some interesting information. In some cases, where I perceive serious problems, I hope that what I have to say might possibly spur some corrective action, either legal or social.

You are welcome to write me with your own opinions and reactions to what I have to say in this book. In addition, I always enjoy hearing about others’ experiences, whether or not they mirror mine. All authors look forward to hearing from their readers! Please feel free to write me at: branco182@verizon.net

To read about my other three books, please visit my website:

www.dvorkin.com/robertbranco/

About the Author

Robert Theodore Branco is a lifelong resident of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Legally blind since birth, Robert attended sight–saving classes in the public school system until his parents learned about Perkins School for the Blind, in Watertown, Massachusetts, 65 miles from his home. He spent eight years at Perkins, graduating from high school in June of 1977. His autobiographical book My Home Away from Home: Life at Perkins School for the Blind (2013) details those significant and formative years.

After graduating from Perkins, Robert went on to attend Bristol Community College and then the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. He studied Business Administration at Bristol College, earning an Associate’s degree, and then Finance at UMass, earning a Bachelor’s degree.

Robert’s work experience has been quite varied. He has been a health benefits counselor, a customer service representative, the manager of an automotive parts department, and the receptionist at a construction company.

For many years, he was Commissioner of Branco Softball, a slow pitch softball league; in that position, he was a blind man running an organization with over 200 sighted participants. He also hosted a support group for the visually impaired from 1999 through 2008. He still runs a bowling league for the visually impaired and those with other disabilities. Currently, Robert serves on the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind’s regional Consumer Advisory Council in his area. He also hosts trivia events at housing, day care, and senior facilities.

Robert is the publisher of The Consumer Vision Magazine, which is read in more than half of U.S. states and on three other continents. For details, see www.consumervisionmagazine.com In addition, he formerly wrote a weekly op–ed column for Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind, which was a paid position. This book consists primarily of articles which were published in that magazine or in The Consumer Vision.

He took dictation from another blind author, Jalil (Jay) Mortazavi, to create a Word file of Mr. Mortazavi’s book From Iran to America: Changes, Choices, and Challenges. Leonore and David Dvorkin edited that book and arranged for its publication in 2013.

As of April 2014: Robert is now a professional blind consultant with Project Starfish, conducting virtual training sessions on content writing. See the first two essays in this book for more information about Project Starfish.

You can reach Bob by email at branco182@verizon.net or by phone at 508–994–4972.

His book–related website is

http://www.dvorkin.com/robertbranco/

For information on other books that Bob has written, please see the end of this book or his website.

I.Issues Pertaining to Blindness and the Blind

What Project Starfish Means to Me

What is Project Starfish? That’s a question I asked a friend of mine last September when she introduced me to a unique and new socioeconomic platform, one that will help the blind become employed.

Since I was introduced to Project Starfish and its mission, I have become more aware that if blind people learn new, contemporary skills and have a platform to apply them, they can create their own employment opportunities. With the help of Project Starfish, many blind people can now use their skills to help small businesses with specific needs, such as social networking, content writing, customer service, research, sales, marketing, and other related business skills. These business development services are needed to help support small businesses; however, such services are not always available to the small business community. That makes this program unique and a win–win for both sides, making it sustainable.

Project Starfish offers quality, hands–on trainings, and we speak to highly skilled professional people in the industry in order to learn and better ourselves in the business world. These trainings take place virtually, by conference calls, on a regular basis, while we learn, network, and discuss problems and opportunities.

The results have been quite predictable. Several consultants in the program, including me, have made money. Several businesses have placed their trust in Project Starfish and its team of blind consultants in order to make this model a success, and they are quite impressed with what we bring to the table. It’s great camaraderie!

I am very proud to work with Project Starfish and its founder, Subhashish Acharya, and suggest that other talented, ambitious blind people join us if they believe they can utilize their business skills constructively. Please check out the accessible website www.projectstarfishinc.org for more information.

I believe this model can work as long as you are ambitious, open–minded, eager to learn, willing to work hard, and also want to have fun. We learn, earn, collaborate, work as a team, and raise awareness of who we are and what we are capable of in society.

The Blind Are Getting Jobs

I wanted you to read about the progress of our latest employment model for blind people. Hopefully this will inspire you. I can vouch for everything that my director, Subhashish Acharya, says in this email that he sent to me and other members of the Project Starfish team.—Bob Branco

Editor’s note: With the permission of Mr. Acharya, the text of this email was lightly edited.—Leonore Dvorkin

January 1, 2014

Team, if you are receiving this email, you are or were part of Project Starfish at some point. I would like to thank all of you for making things happen that clearly never, ever happened before in the arena of blindness. You should be proud of who you are, whether you are with us actively or not. At least I am very proud of you, because you have created history.

Five months back, we started out with just a concept and a dream. Given the very high rate of unemployment among the blind, about 80 percent, we realized that we needed to create a different socioeconomic opportunity model and platform to solve this problem. After all, we can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results, right?

Here are some results of our efforts. Fourteen people have made money so far. Fifty percent of those have made repeat money in the last three months. Fifteen percent have made an income of more than $300 per month. And 10 percent have the potential to make more than $500 in January of this year. We have created over 33 jobs in the last three months, 70 percent of which came in the last two months. Ninety percent of our clients renew working with us, and as we bring in more clients, the income will only grow, creating a multi–source, renewable, and continuous income stream.

We have worked with IT companies, consulting companies, iPhone apps companies, video game companies, and green companies. You name it! Three of our clients are overseas: one from Israel, one from Canada, and one from Belgium. Leaving the income aside, imagine the business impact we’ve had. Imagine how much we’ve learned from the discussions and the businesses. We’ve created jobs that never existed before. We’ve raised the GDP of the country by bringing in international revenue, however small it may be. But most important of all is the fact that we’ve spread true awareness about our capabilities to a sighted society that needs this model, people, and talent—all because you believed in possibilities. Isn’t that something you should be proud of? You bet! You’ve made things happen. Period.

Remember, the Apples and the Googles of the world also started small. Give yourself a couple of years. Learn, earn, grow, market, lead, and teach. You will see how big this will be from the opportunity side. You will be the leaders of tomorrow, creating business and social impact worldwide!

But you need to have patience and execute flawlessly. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither was Google, and neither was Apple. A crazy joke to make the point here (and apologies if this offends anyone in any way): Do we expect nine pregnant women to produce a baby in one month? Of course not. The baby will take its time. A Chinese bamboo tree grows one inch every year for three years, and in the fourth year, it grows to 40 feet! Good things take time.

Let me tell you why we grew in the last two months. It’s because we get on the team meeting from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. every day, slice and dice the business case studies, invite people to join in the call, and get their business. Eighty percent of our business came that way, and we have learned a vast amount. There is more to it, because we train every day. We learn new things, new skills, in order to execute better and to create more impact. We have a process of training that we have developed that is repeatable, scalable, and predictable. Our speaker trainings have worked exceptionally well. Now it’s just a question of repeating what worked.

However, the biggest thing of all is that we believed and stuck together as a family, as a cohesive army, working together and collaborating to make things happen. We simply did it! It’s the team that made it all happen. It’s the team spirit that made it happen. It’s the value system that made it happen. Look at yourselves now. We don’t make excuses anymore. We do our homework and do our planning diligently. We learn, work, make money—and yes, we have fun! Look at the metamorphosis that has happened in the team. The belief, the confidence, the professionalism, the cooperation—they’re priceless. Imagine the résumé you are building. Imagine the confidence, the business network we have developed, the rapport with clients, the recommendations, and more. We have made a huge impact.

2014 will be our year! We will be a giant pool of talent working with hundreds of businesses. Each of us will learn, execute, bring business, make money, teach others, and be employed in our own company. We will only have to replicate the model.

I can tell you one last thing, guys. A pupa in a cocoon doesn’t know it will be a beautiful butterfly. Inside the cocoon, life isn’t easy. Getting out of the cocoon is even harder, because the chrysalis (the adult pupa) has to force itself to get outside the cocoon, and that force creates the beautiful wings to take off as a butterfly. Life is like that, and so is being employable. If we keep our momentum, we will win. The money will be commensurate with the efforts. Remember, Project Starfish is like a temple. Work is the worship. Success is wisdom and personal transformation. There is always a price for success, but success is the sweetest reward.

So let’s do it! Thanks for believing in me, guys, whatever short time or long time you may have been with us. What we have created works. We have created history. Let’s make it big in 2014!

Subs

Subhashish Acharya

Founder—PROJECT STARFISH America

http://www.projectstarfishinc.org

An integrated internship and employment platform for the blind and physically challenged and a shared service for business and startups

Editor’s note: If the above link does not function for any reason, just search online for Project Starfish America.

Are Petitions Effective?

(Originally published in Matilda Ziegler Magazine)

Throughout most of my adult life, I have either held office for, or have been a member of, advocacy groups, nonprofit organizations, or membership support groups. From time to time, either in those capacities or as a private citizen, I have been asked