I used to teach photography to blind students.

Here is one of the pictures, which is by Katy, age 13, from Kennesaw, NC.

 

Another student named Leuwynda made photographs of the cracked sidewalks at her school and sent them to the superintendent as “proof” of the damage. She included a letter asking for them to be fixed. “Since you are sighted,” she wrote, “you may not notice these cracks. They are a big problem since my white cane gets stuck.”

I want to notice all the cracks in my world – the prejudice I still have about cultures I don’t understand, the arrogance that I know anything with certainty, and the privilege I have by virtue of my skin color, gender, and education. Sometimes the cracks seem small and easy to overlook – saying people’s names incorrectly, not giving thanks before a meal, forgetting my mom’s birthday (she’d say that was a big crack), and being too judgmental of others. Sometimes the cracks are obvious – if I pay attention.

My "calling" in life is to use my skills across different disciplines - business, social enterprise, art, media, religion, social justice to notice the cracks and help others notice them too. There are many – and the more we pay attention, the more we can work together to make the world whole again.

In 2007, Chronicle Books will publish

a book about this project entitled,

Seeing Beyond Sight:

Photographs by Blind Teenagers,

with a foreword by Dr. Robert Coles,

which you can get by

following this link.