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WHITE PLAINS — Harold James, a 44-year-old bear of a man with a neatly trimmed beard, works at Lighthouse International, a nonprofit organization that helps people with vision problems. He is also legally blind. And until last week, he was unaware that the second-ranking elected official in the state was also legally blind.

But as Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson prepares to take over as governor of New York on Monday, Mr. James is savoring the moment, as people throughout the country are learning what it means to be legally blind and, perhaps more importantly, learning what it does not mean: namely, that those with limited or no sight must rein in their dreams and ambitions.

“It shows you that if you keep trying and pushing, you can achieve,” Mr. James said. “We want more David Patersons. Just give people who are legally blind a chance. The eyes are the problem, not the brain, and today there is so much adaptive technology out there that can help.”

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ALBANY, N.Y. -- The man poised to succeed Gov. Eliot Spitzer would not only become the first black governor of New York. He would also be the state's first legally blind governor and its first disabled governor since Franklin D. Roosevelt.


Though his sight is limited, Lt. Gov. David Paterson walks the halls of the Capitol unaided. He recognizes people at conversational distance and can memorize whole speeches. He has played basketball, run a marathon, and survived 22 years in the backbiting culture of the state Capitol with a reputation as a man more apt to reach for an olive branch than a baseball bat.


If Spitzer resigns after being snared in a prostitution scandal, the biggest changes in a Paterson administration would probably revolve around style.


"He's a guy who had two handicaps: his blindness and his race. And he never made excuses for it," said civil rights leader Al Sharpton, a longtime friend. "He's the guy who has said, 'I have been in a minority group and a minority within a minority group. And I can make it, so don't give me no excuses.'"

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ORIGINAL: charmdpetKeira

Doubtful he’s the first; instead, he is the first whom has a legitimate reason.
 
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