Thomas Stivers is the man who keeps the computer network at the Austin Lighthouse for the Blind up and running.
On a recent morning, he bustled into the lobby, asking the woman at the front desk about an issue she was having. Stivers and receptionist Flora Cruz are both blind, and they’re among 200 people with visual impairments – out of 400 overall – who work at the South Austin facility, a massive building that includes 450,000 square feet of light manufacturing, distribution and office space.
Lighthouse president and CEO Jim Meehan says blind people work in all aspects of the business, which has contracts with the federal government, as well as private firms that need manufacturing services.
“We have people who are blind in every job and every aspect of the Lighthouse,” Meehan said. “That goes from accounting to marketing to public relations to mechanics to fork lift drivers to sewing machine operators. You name it, they’re doing it.”
Cruz has done several of those jobs, beginning her career at the Lighthouse manufacturing rigger belts – rugged nylon belts worn by members of the Army and Marines. Eventually, mentors and colleagues encouraged Cruz to do more.
“The front desk job was posted, and everyone I was working with said, ‘you need to apply,'” she said.
» Texas Standard special report: The State of Disability in Texas
Ninety years ago, in the depths of the Depression, local business leaders founded the Austin Lighthouse for the Blind with the goal of providing employment to those with visual impairments. Employees manufactured items at a time when most blind people struggled to find jobs in other businesses.
Workers at Lighthouses across the country often earned below-market wages. Meehan says that’s no longer the case, with new employees earning $15 an hour, with opportunities to advance, and training to help, when needed.
A small store inside the Lighthouse sells white canes, talking appliances and other tools used by people who are blind to navigate the world. It’s run by Taryn Schriewer, whose skill at managing the facility and working with customers has provided encouragement to shoppers, some of whom are newly blind.
“They go from feeling like they can’t do much to suddenly watching me … And they see me, independently moving around my store, checking them out with a point-of-sale that is speaking to me and reading the screen to me, so that I can help them check out – and realizing that they have a future,” Schriewer said.
Stivers has turned his love of technology into a 15-year career at the Lighthouse.
“I like the people, and I like being a normal person in the workplace. My blindness doesn’t really make me stand out,” he said. “It just makes me another person on the team.”
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Taryn Schriewer’s name.
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