Heather Bird, President

Email: president@nfbcal.org

I am a complex person: a wife, a mother, a daughter, a social work student, an attachment parent, guide dog handler, advocate, an avid reader, singer, foodie... Blindness is just one facet of who I am. In the setting of precious stones that is my life, blindness is one single side of one little supporting gem, although society tries to paint it as the largest and most flawed center of my ring. As a child blindness was to me as my hair color or my shoe size. However, society has insisted on making it an issue as important as race, religion, or sexual orientation. I am the child of a blind parent, the parent of blind children, and the wife of a veteran. Everyone from every walk of life has challenges that can be dealt with in a myriad of ways. It is only when our society latches on to one of these challenges or differences and stigmatizes it, that the real struggle begins in earnest. I will live the life I want in spite of this interfearance and relish every day.