Helping Hand is a weekly feature airing on HPR1 stations statewide Fridays at 5:30 on All Things Considered, and appearing here online. Each week, Helping Hand offers a conversation with an organization or event in the community that offers assistance to the disabled and other folks in need with local All Things Considered host Dave Lawrence. This week we’re learning about the National Federation of the Blind of Hawai‘i, and as their website points out, the National Federation of the Blind is not an organization speaking for the blind -- it is the blind speaking for themselves. It’s a privilege to learn more- with our guests, who are also involved on a national level, Chapter President and State Vice President Virgil Stinnett and his wife, local affiliate secretary, Katie Keim.
The National Federation of the Blind philosophy is that blindness is not the characteristic that defines a person or their future. As an organization, among their goals of networking and providing invaluable resources for the blind, they raise the expectations of blind people to realize fulfilling lives, with an understanding that a person can have the life they want, and that blindness is not what holds you back.
Contact the National Federation of the Blind of Hawaii:
Website: hawaii.nfb.org
Phone: 595-6123 (in and around Honolulu), 866-595-6123 (throughout the state)
Email: one.fisherman@hawaiiantel.net (to email Virgil directly)
Address: National Federation of the Blind of Hawai'i, PO Box 4482, Honolulu, HI 96812 (both contributions and inquiries can be mailed)
