Rufus L Glass
Carbondale
SIUC and the city of Carbondale are both home to many blind and visually impaired students and residents. Not only are there many blind people in our community, but there are other people with other disabilities from different walks of life.
In writing this letter, I am looking at things from a blind person's point of view as it relates to the lack of opportunity for people with disabilities in the Carbondale area. The Southern Illinois area is a great place to live and raise a family. The people are friendly, helpful and caring. Carbondale is a nice community that's not too big and not too small, with some services you only find in major cities such as taxis, multiple types of public transportation and a variety of shopping outlets as a few examples. There are many activities stemming from Southern Illinois University and other traditional activities native to Southern Illinois that make for good entertainment for the numerous small surrounding communities.
As a blind person living here since I was 6 years old, I know this community well and I know much of its history. There are many things good and bad that cannot be put in this letter, because I am aware of the limit of space that can be dedicated in this forum.
The gist of what I'm writing about has to do with the lack of employment opportunities that permeates a great area of the state of Illinois. In my life time of living in this area, I've met many people who say they would love to stay in the area to raise a family but can't find work that can help them support their families. If you are a person with a disability, the difficulty is magnified many times. A disabled person who is single also faces many hard trials trying to make ends meet in this area.
Lack of employment opportunity is the major culprit. I think SIUC, the city of Carbondale and the business community have fallen short in their diligence to capitalize on the strengths of each other in attracting more business opportunities to this area. Having a major university located in your community is a luring tool to big businesses that are seeking areas of expansion. Tourism not only in Carbondale, but the whole Southern Illinois area is another big luring tool. The scenery, fishing, history and landmarks should be exposed to the many Americans who are unaware of the richness of this part of the state.
Caught up in the middle of the lack of employment opportunity are people with disabilities. We suffer the lack of opportunity just like anyone else looking to support their families, but we also have to battle the lack of understanding of many people who are in the position to hire well-qualified disabled individuals to help Southern Illinois to be the best it can be.
Many potential employers look at the disability first and not the person. They fail to take time to understand and find out just what expertise we can bring to their business or organization. Having a disability does not take away the ability to perform complex tasks in gainful employment. There are many well-educated and professional people with disabilities who graduate from this hometown University who must leave the area to be successful because there are no opportunities for them here. Our community leaders must realize that they are letting some of the best and creative minds slip through their fingers without making a great effort to keep some of that creativity here to serve Southern Illinois.
I think community businesses, organizations such as city governments, churches, rehabilitation agencies and interested community leaders should get together and look at all the options available to them and come up with a plan aimed at keeping as much professional talent in this wonderful community, whether people are disabled or not. I would hope that something can be done instead of letting them go where others benefit from what we in this area fail to capitalize on for the benefit of our citizens and communities.
People with disabilities contribute to the success of our community. If we are working, we spend money in the local economy, we pay taxes, which helps to support much needed services and many people are able to permanently stay off welfare and other assistance programs.
In closing, I would like to ask these questions. Who in the Southern Illinois community has made a real effort to find out what our disabled community thinks as it relates to their community and their opportunities here? Who has taken a real look at what our city leaders and business leaders really do to hire and include persons with disabilities in the success of gainful employment?
Has the Daily Egyptian, the Southern Illinoisan, city of Carbondale and other major players in our community really brought the plight of our disabled citizens to the forefront of awareness? If not, what will interested parties do now that this letter says there is a major problem of misunderstanding, lack of awareness, lack of opportunity and lack of interest for this sector of our Southern Illinois population? Who out there cares enough?
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
