Talking to Americans 2: An Interview with Christine Grassman

In this 67th podcast we continue our discussion with blind Americans who share with us their lived experience. Christine Grassman, a conflict resolution specialist living in Virginia, gives us a candid interview of what life has been like for her. She has a fascinating story of being, essentially discriminated against, in one of her first full-time jobs, before landing on her feet with the Randolph-Sheppard program. Throughout the podcast Christine shares her life experience as a wife, mother, dragon boat racer, First Aid Instructor, author, and target shooter. She discusses the limitations of the Americans with disabilities Act. She recounts situations where interactions between blind Americans and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have led to one death and several injuries."I would say that its extremely unlikely that most people would think the same about any other marginalized group. And say, oh well, of course they are good at that particular job because they are working with their particular group, or where their interest lie, or whatever that happens to be. And so, we as people with disabilities really have a hard time breaking out of that whole system where we’re kind of marginalized into particular jobs and particular sectors of employment."