Imagine waking up one day and being disabled. The day before you are running with scissors and the next day you can’t find the scissors because now you’re blind. No matter what we think we understand about disability it is much harder than imagined.
I spent an hour with Walt Raineri, an attorney at Fenwick & West that lost his sight two years ago to retinitis pigmentosa. Simple translation, 90 percent of his vision is gone because the cells in his retina can no longer process light into electrical signals.
He meets me in the lobby and makes a leap of faith shooting his hand out. As we shake I realize that in a visual world there are a lot of things we take for granted. We discuss the location of the bike and how to get there much like going on a mission.
Passersby say “Hi Walt,” as we navigate the hallway and head towards the basement. Walt says things like “where’s that pole?” and “here’s that curb.” He raises his hand to shield his face when we walk near some low-hanging support beams, saying I learned the hard way to watch out for those.
Pushing the bike out isn’t easy. I navigate and we have to watch for cars and speed bumps. We take the bike up a set of steps and Walt counts them out. He knows the number by heart. Uncertainly on the last step can lead to disaster.
He asks if I can send him some photos telling me his wife will describe them to him later. I am really touched by this.
