Interview with David Paterson

I found David Paterson, the first legally blind governor of New York, to have an interesting perspective. I can relate to him in living in a world that is between the sighted and non sighted worlds and how very difficult it is for people to grasp partial sightedness.

first legally blind governor in U.S. historyDavid Paterson to become new New York governorBy Reuters / March 12, 2008NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Lieutenant Governor David Paterson was setto become the state's first black governor and the first legally blindgovernorin U.S. history, after the resignation of Gov. Eliot Spitzer Wednesday.Paterson, 53, became New York's first African-American lieutenantgovernor in November 2006. He has been legally blind since childhood,with only partialsight in his right eye.Spitzer resigned after media reports linked him to a prostitution ring.He said Paterson would take over Monday.The following are some facts about Paterson:Paterson was born in Brooklyn to Portia and Basil Paterson. His fatherwas the first non-white secretary of state of New York and the firstAfrican-Americanvice chair of the national Democratic Party.He earned his bachelor's degree in history from Columbia University,graduating in 1977, and completed his law degree at Hofstra Law Schoolin 1982.Paterson became a public servant in 1985 when he began representingHarlem in the New York State Senate, according to the New Yorkgovernor's Web site.In 2002, he became the body's minority leader, the first non-whitelegislative leader in New York state history.In 2004, he became the first legally blind person to address theDemocratic National Convention.In 2006, Paterson was elected New York's first African-Americanlieutenant governor.Paterson ran the New York City marathon in 1999.Paterson, an adjunct professor at Columbia's School for Internationaland Public Affairs, lives in Harlem with his wife, Michelle PaigePaterson, and theirtwo children.Additional information from a New York Times article FROM January, 08"As a disabled person, there's certain times that I don't want to appeartoneed that much help. When I was in college, when I was at Columbia, Ihad aprofessor - I actually Googled him, he passed away in 1986 and his namewasBasil Ruch, and he was a professor of history at Barnard College, and heshowedme a picture of Franklin Delano Roosevelt being carried into the 1932Democraticconvention. And he said that Roosevelt by 1932 was still able to walk acertaindistance, but not quickly, and he wanted to walk in, he wanted thecountry tosee him standing, and but what happened was, when he started to walk,and he gottoward the end, he was starting to be a little jittery, that a bunch ofsupporters, thinking they were helping him, grabbed him and picked himup andcarried him in. And you see in this picture - and I couldn't really seeit, buthe described it to me - he has this stern, angry look, because theymessed uphis moment. And I know what he was feeling. Because sometimes you wantto project a certainamount of strength. And you can project it if you're a woman, you canproject itif you're disabled, you can project it, but often the people who loveyou don'tsee the need for you to project it.I remember when I was in the D.A.'s office, and I conducted a hearingand it hadto do with a stalker who was bothering this woman. And I got to feelingwhen thewoman saw me holding the file up to my face and that kind of thing, andthestalker's looking at her, and she's kind of - I got that she didn'treally knowif I was able to handle this.And I went over to her and I said, "Listen, just in case we lose thishearing,don't worry, because when he goes outside, I'm going to kick his butt."I saidthat to her because I wanted her to know that I'm in charge of her case.Andthat's what I'm saying about projection."Q: Did you always think, with your disability, that you could followyour fatherinto politics, or was that something you came to over time?A: When I was 10 years old I watched Robert Kennedy speak at theDemocraticNational Convention and I wished I was him. And I think, again, therewas thatfamily connection - he was following in the footsteps of John, Hillaryfollowsin the footsteps of Bill, so I always relate to that, you know, kind offamilymember who has to deal with that shadow.When I was in college, though I had academic ability, I don't know thatI wasall that socially developed, or had a real difficult problem askingpeople forassistance, and had a lot of problems as a result of that. And I thinkas I hadmore problems, my ideas about being in politics, or following my fatherdwindled. I didn't see myself as - I think my self-esteem reallysuffered fromthat. ...Q: In terms of your vision, how much can you see?A: I am legally blind in my right eye, and totally blind in my left eye.I'mlooking at Armen [Meyer, a press aide who was in the room]. I know hehas awhite shirt on, I know he has a tie on, but from this distance I can'ttell youwhat color it is. I think it's a darker color. ...When I am in places where I am familiar, I will appear to see betterthan inplaces where I'm not. If I walked around my house, and you didn't know,you'dprobably think I have no vision problems.When I say I saw something, it's more like I sensed it. So when I saidthat wewere on a plane with the Clintons, and we're all eating pizza, I knewthat I waseating pizza and I knew they took pizza off the tray, so I assumethey're eatingit. I think people's perception of me sometimes is that I see more thanIactually do. But I play basketball, and I've done things that peoplewith my vision aren'tsupposed to do. I'm in this interesting sort of zone between the sightedand theunsighted, and have never really met anyone who I visually relate to,I've nevermet anyone who is kind of like me. ...My truest disability has been my ability to overcome my physicaldisability. Soin other words, as soon as people see that I can be independent, thenthey holdme to the standard that everyone else is. So I remember once I told theairlinesthat I had a sight problem, and they put me on this bus to go to a hotelbecausethere were no other flights out of the airport that night, and I gave upmy seatto everyone got on and they passed me, and then like this 90-year-oldwoman, whowas trying to get up the steps, and I couldn't take it anymore so Ihelped herup the steps, gave her my seat and took another seat. First stop, thebus drivertells me to get off. And I know that he's doing this now because hethinks Ihave no problem. He goes, "Go that way." And I almost fell in thewishing wellin front of this hotel. That's because he saw me able to fend formyself.And I think that's been my greatest disability, that as I've overcome myphysical disability, it just leads to other problems. So I think I havenowlearned - and I'm not doing this to be deceptive - but I don't act theway I didwhen I was 17, like I can do everything myself, because I realized theminute Ido that, no one helps me. So I learned to be a little more pragmaticabout life