Arizona’s budget cuts have left almost no government-funded program — or private ones, for that matter — untouched. But while this hurts public programs and can significantly affect people’s lifestyles and resources, some people just won’t let the cut be the end of it. They’re seeking out material to build a bridge to their goals — their state of mind hardly deterred.
Such is the case with the members of the Foundation for Blind Children.
In the last two years the foundation has seen a drop of $755,000 in public and private revenues. Most of that came from Arizona’s Department of Economic Securities’ Division of Developmental Disabilities, which has seen a cut of $5.5 million in the last fiscal year. As a result, the foundation suspended two of its developmental programs, one of which teaches visually impaired high school students independent living skills, such as cooking, cleaning and laundry.
Regardless of the tactical differences between these tasks for the visually impaired and those with perfect vision, the resources to improve one’s transition into the “real world” are invaluable for anyone, including the 91,000 blind in Arizona.
But in an unexpected way, the disheartening budget cuts have yielded a positive and encouraging story. The foundation has made a larger pull for fundraising to help fill financial gaps, and that includes hiking trips and overcoming certain lifestyle choices that young people with vision problems may have once considered unthinkable.
One such person is 22-year-old blind ASU student Tanner Robinson, who has climbed Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro and recently hiked the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim.
But before giving up the idea of the limitations of being visually impaired, he said he spent much of his high school and early college years indoors. By supporting programs that make it easier for young adults to feel empowered by the possibility and openness in a nation where they are a minority, they are taking the first step in conquering the challenging, winding road of life.
Robinson was just one of 13 blind climbers on Oct. 10 to hike the Grand Canyon, and the trek may have even earned them a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the largest group to do so.
But they may as well be setting a world record in dealing with a financial crisis more constructively than any other entity.
The hike raised more than $40,000 for the Sports, Habilitation, Arts and Recreation Program, a summertime service that trains visually impaired youth to become self-reliant in areas like sports, technology and the arts.
While the saying may hold that desperate times call for desperate measures, the Foundation for Blind Children has realized the often hidden opportunity of these tough times and turned it into something more than it would have been before.
Perhaps seeing the possibility for success in a tough situation is something we can all take a cue from.
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