Vivian: Stay informed, stay involved, be an ally for people who have disabilities. Disability rights are everyone’s right and disability will affect everyone at some point in their life. I mean there’s over a billion of us in the world and we’re the world’s largest minority.

Welcome to the Heard & Empowered podcast presented by National Industries for the Blind. You’re not just a listener here, you’re a catalyst for change. Whether you’re blind, visually impaired or an ally, this is your ultimate resource for building a fulfilling career and an enriching life. We’re on a mission to shift perceptions, open hearts and minds and unlock unparalleled job opportunities for the BVI community. Ready to be heard and empowered? Let’s welcome our host, Dr. Hoby Wedler.

Hoby: Good day and welcome back to the Heard & Empowered podcast. First, I want to thank you listeners so much for all the love and support you’ve been giving us with your great reviews. Please keep them coming. That helps us immensely in our growth efforts and we just so appreciate all your amazing comments and feedback and everything that you’ve been providing. So, a huge thank you for that.

But all that aside, I am so excited today to introduce our guest for this week. Vivian Fridas. Vivian is an incredible individual who works directly with National Industries for the Blind and is going to chat with us about what she does. Vivian, welcome to the show.

Vivian: Thank you for having me, I’m very excited.

Hoby: We’re honored to have you. So, I really like to know about the person behind the mission. I know there’s a mission at NIB and there’s a mission behind what you do and we all have our professional and our personal missions, but I want to get to know you as a person and sort of what brought you from childhood and growing up to where you are now. Can you tell me a little bit about your background, about how you came to be at NIB and anything that we should know sort of leading up to that?

Vivian: Sure. I think it’s always important to tell your story and that’s actually something that we advocate for when we train our advocates, which I’m sure we’ll get into later.

Hoby: Absolutely. I love it.

Vivian: Storytelling is very important, so I’m happy to share mine. So I am originally from New York, New York City. I am the middle child of three girls to immigrant parents from Greece. And I was born with visual impairments. I have retinal degeneration or cone-rod dystrophy. So, I have the lived experience of a person with a disability and I’ve had many periods of transition where I’ve had more sight, less sight, and now where it’s just a light perception. So, nothing functional to assist. But I think that has definitely sparked my journey to where I am now.

Growing up as someone who is blind and visually impaired, I definitely experienced discrimination and biases. And that really sparked my interest in disability inclusion. So, I got my undergrad in political science. I got my graduate degree in government and politics.

Hoby: Where did you go to school, by the way?

Vivian: I went to Adelphi University in New York for my undergrad and St. John’s University, also in New York, for my graduate degree.

Hoby: Both amazing schools.

Vivian: They are very great schools and I definitely credit them with bringing me to where I am today. Great programs, great professors, I really took advantage of all of that.

Hoby: And that’s so important, isn’t it? When we’re, you know, I’m totally blind myself and when we can take advantage of the amazing people and resources behind the work that we’re trying to do, we should do so, because it’s so incredibly valuable to have those amazing folks.

I just want to back up just a little bit before we jump into your college and your work experience. I just can tell from talking to you that your parents must have had truly high expectations of you and what you could do and not what you couldn’t do. And you sound like you were Vivian who happened to be blind, not Vivian, their blind daughter. Would you say that’s true?

Vivian: That is 100% true and accurate. I have two sisters, an older and a younger one. My parents didn’t treat me any differently. If it was time to do chores, we all had to pitch in. There was no, “Oh, well, Vivian can’t do that, she can’t see.”

Hoby: No, right.

Vivian: And I tried to get away with it a couple of times, but they were like, “Come on, no, we’re not doing this.”

Hoby: Exactly.

Vivian: So they really supported me. And yes, they definitely backed me up.

Hoby: I know exactly what you mean.

Vivian: So my folks really, they wanted me to have the same opportunities as my sisters. They knew that I was just as smart as my sisters, just as capable as my sisters, but maybe I would need a little assistance or I had to do things a little differently. And my road in school and education or employment would be a little bit different, but they were there for me and they didn’t treat me any differently because of my disability. I was their daughter and that’s all there was to it.

Hoby: They loved you just the same. And your blindness was like someone having brown eyes, you know, no different than that. That’s how my parents treated me. And I think it’s such an amazing advantage and leg up that gives us when it’s like, “Hey, let’s do this.” We happen to be blind. We live in a sighted world. Yeah, we’re going to have to work harder, but let’s do it. Game on.

Vivian: Yep, we got it. And it’s great to have that support of the family to really back you up and to know that you can have a really awful day going out into the world and experiencing challenges, struggles, discrimination, biases. But when you come home, your family is your family and they’re there to just prop you up, back you up and just really continue to push you and help motivate you towards the next day.

Hoby: Exactly. And, you know, there’s a really interesting sort of phenomenon that happens to me. I’m out doing all this other stuff that has nothing to do with my family, you know, professionally. But when I get even an evening to hang out with my family, my parents, my brother, whatever it is, I feel rejuvenated. I feel like this, okay, you know, sort of reset and rejuvenation. Do you feel that?

Vivian: I do. Yeah, like you said, it’s like a recharge. You plug yourself back in.

Hoby: Exactly. Exactly.

Vivian: You know, the battery is low, you need to charge up. But it’s a great feeling. And with my family I’m starting to have nieces and nephews who just really bring out the joy in life. And, oh, it’s amazing. I love being an auntie, so that really makes it worthwhile for sure.

Hoby: For me, too. I love being Uncle Hoby. It’s so much fun, yeah. So let’s continue on. Thank you for that digression, by the way. But I just think it’s so important to talk about the foundation. And you know what, Vivian, so much of that is, in my opinion, those who have high expectations for us when we’re small and when we happen to be blind or visually impaired, it gives us the right mindset. It puts our head in the right space.

And I truly believe, and we’ll get into this a little bit later, that with the right mindset, literally any one of us can do pretty much anything we want to do.

Vivian: I definitely agree. You definitely have to have the right mindset, be in the right headspace and just go for it.

Hoby: So you were saying that you got your undergrad in political science, your graduate degree in government – What was it, government policy?

Vivian: Yes, government and politics and a concentration in international relations.

Hoby: And then tell me how that sort of started your career. Just walk me through how you went from grad school to, hey, I’m at NIB.

Vivian: So originally I actually wanted to go to law school, but the LSATs weren’t to my advantage. So I had to find a way, another way to get to where I wanted to go. Originally I thought I’d be a disability rights lawyer. So when law school didn’t really pan out, I thought, well, okay, what do I ultimately want to do? And I just knew that I wanted to do advocacy work for people with disabilities. How do I get there? Okay, there’s other options besides law school. And that’s why I took the route of grad school.

And then upon completing my graduate degree, it was a little bit difficult to find employment opportunities in my field. I did start out with a fellowship here in DC. I started with a summer fellowship at the United States International Council on Disabilities. It was a great program for youth with disabilities, students and recent graduates with disabilities who were interested in international development, international affairs. And we were matched with an organization in the DC area and we had a two month fellowship where we worked on a project.

And during this time, there were opportunities to meet with people in the disability rights field and advocacy. We were encouraged to do informational interviews and really just connect and take advantage of every opportunity that presented itself, to network and to just break into that space. And that actually led me to other internship opportunities, which, again, I would take advantage of, you know, meeting with coworkers, hey, can I pick your brain? Let’s grab a cup of coffee, I’m interested to learn more.

And you keep building that up, making these relationships, building up your network. And that would lead to other opportunities, meeting with other people. And then I just continued to work. And I then started working at the Women’s Refugee Commission, where I was a disabilities project assistant working on prevention and response strategies for women and girls with disabilities in displaced and humanitarian crises and contexts.

That was very rewarding work. I even was able to travel internationally to do a training workshop for our partners over there in Beirut, Lebanon, and that was a great experience.

Hoby: Oh my gosh.

Vivian: It was a wonderful time. It was great to meet people who were part of disability organizations over there and see the work that they were doing with women and girls who were refugees at the time and just really connect with them.

Hoby: What a learning opportunity that is, to actually be with folks in another country who happen to have disabilities as well and able to sort of lend what you’ve gained here in the US and share it with them.

Vivian: Definitely, it was a learning experience of a lifetime. And at that time, I even traveled with my guide dog. And when I tell you that was the first time that a lot of people met a service dog and how we were interacting with one another and connecting on different levels and exchanging ideas and strategies, it was definitely one of the best experiences I’ve had in my career. And I was so grateful that I had the opportunity to travel abroad and assist in conducting this training workshop and be part of that whole experience.

Hoby: That’s incredible. That sounds like a turning point in your career where it was like, okay, after this amazing fellowship, now you went and worked for this organization. And it was like, that’s incredible.

Vivian: Yeah. Anyone needs just that one chance, that one way to get their foot in the door. And then the rest is up to you. I saw my chance. I saw my shot, so I took it and I said, “Okay, I have this fellowship opportunity, how do I make the most of it? What do I need to do to get the most out of it?.” And I just made sure I took advantage of every single opportunity, whether it was connecting with people who were presenting or reaching out to coworkers.

I just really wanted to get into that space and taking advantage of every single chance that I had was how I got to where I am now.

Hoby: You’ve got to take every opportunity.

Vivian: Exactly.

Hoby: Where did you go from that job?

Vivian: From there, after working at the Women’s Refugee Commission, I then started working as a program manager with the United States International Council on Disability, which is a nonprofit here in the DC area.

Hoby: Another great group.

Vivian: Yes, yes. Do a lot of great work for promoting and protecting the rights and full inclusion of people with disabilities all over the world. And they were the start of my career. They helped me with the fellowship and then I actually ended up working with them for a bit. After that, I did a small consultancy with the World Bank Group as a disability inclusion consultant. And that was a very rewarding experience in and of itself.

Hoby: Was that also in DC?

Vivian: Yes, that was also in the DC area, and they’re based here. The World Bank has field offices all over the world, but I had the opportunity to work in their headquartered office here in DC.

Once those opportunities ended, as they tend to do, I found myself again looking for work. And I’m sure you know, as someone who is blind, sometimes it can be difficult to navigate the employment process. I always say looking for a job is a job in and of itself.

Hoby: When we know that we’re good at what we do and other people have a hard time seeing past the fact that we use a cane or a guide dog. Boy, do I know that? Yes.

Vivian: Yes. You’ve been there.

Hoby: Oh my gosh.

Vivian: Yes. You know, I found myself back in the position of looking for a job. And I had this experience already under my belt, so I was trying to reach out to connections I had made over the years and letting people know, hey, I’m looking for work. If you have any opportunity, pass it my way. And someone reached out to me and said, “This isn’t exactly what you do, but it’s in your background, you might be interested. It’s an opening for a public policy specialist at National Industries for the Blind.”

And I took a look at the job description and I said, “You know, this sounds great. It’s not what I’ve normally been doing.” Over the past few years, I had been working more on people with disabilities, not just specific blindness-related issues. And I was doing a little bit more international work, not public policy domestic. But I just read the mission statement of NIB and researched this organization and I thought I need to take this shot. So I applied.

And then in January 2020, I started working as the public policy specialist in the public policy department here at NIB. And it’s been a wonderful four years so far.

Hoby: Oh my gosh, Vivian, I love that story and I love that journey of how you got to NIB. And we’re going to transition to talk more, much more about what you do at NIB and how your job supports the efforts which are to promote employment of folks who are blind and visually impaired.

One of the things that we’ve talked about a lot on this show in the past is how NIB really transforms lives for the nonprofit agencies they support and provide employment to folks who are blind and visually impaired. One of the things that we haven’t talked about too much at all is the public policy side of things. And working as a public policy specialist, like what happens at the organization when we think about how we support folks and how we support the overall mission and vision of NIB through public policy?

So just give me a background, enlighten me if you will, on sort of what you do and what the public policy program looks like at the organization.

Vivian: Sure. So here at NIB and in the public policy department, our job is to promote the AbilityOne program and protect it from any changes or any threats to the program, because the AbilityOne program, it’s a great option for people who are blind, visually impaired and have other significant disabilities to find employment. And we need to make sure that this program continues to be in existence.

And it’s been around for, what, 85, almost 86 years, since 1938. And, yes, in 1938 things were totally different from the modern day and age. And we advocate for updating the program to make it fit in today’s day and age and world. So our job here in the public policy department is to continue to support the AbilityOne program, make sure there are ample opportunities for people who are blind and have other significant disabilities to take advantage of the employment opportunities that this offers to them.

Hoby: That’s incredible. And that’s such important work that you’re doing. So how does the program work? Like, how does your position work? Maybe you can explain a little bit about the way that you guys advocate, and I wouldn’t call it lobbying, but you essentially train folks who are employees of the agencies that are served by NIB to actually come to DC and support the mission and vision of NIB and ultimately support and advocate for employment opportunities for folks who are blind and visually impaired, right?

Vivian: Yes, correct. So I manage, we have this program called the Advocates for Leadership and Employment Program. It’s been around since 2012, and every year we open applications and we encourage our associated nonprofit agencies to nominate a candidate from their agency, someone who is motivated and interested in the public policy and advocacy process and space.

And once applications come in and we go through the submissions, we select our candidates and we provide two years of formal training to these employees from associated nonprofit agencies who become part of the Advocates for Leadership and Employment Program.

Hoby: So it’s a two-year training cycle?

Vivian: Correct, it’s two years of formal training. We conduct the training during our spring conference event every year.

Hoby: And is the training sort of year-round as well? Do you check back in with folks?

Vivian: Oh, for sure. We have quarterly conference calls and check-ins and we have a newsletter. We have other opportunities, speaking and otherwise, for our advocates to participate and take advantage of.

One of the big things that our advocates in the program participate in is, number one, the training, the two years of training that they receive. And we provide training on topics such as public speaking, effective communication methods, grassroots advocacy efforts, overview of the government and legislative process, so on and so forth. And this is to make sure that they are able to communicate our shared mission and vision to our federally elected officials.

They are the constituents. They go on the Hill during our advocacy day every spring and they advocate for our policy priorities, our policy issues, the things that we think are critical and important that are facing the blindness community and typically related to employment.

Hoby: So there’s a two-year training cycle. And do the trainees at the spring conference, which, of course, happens in DC, do the trainees get to attend meetings and listen to advocates do their work with the Senate and Congress?

Vivian: For sure. They are encouraged, and we encourage all of our agencies who attend the spring event to schedule meetings with their senators, their congressmen and women that are part of their district to schedule meetings to discuss our asks of the year.

Hoby: And even those who are in training can do that?

Vivian: Yep, they jump right in. So after they receive their training earlier in the week, they will accompany their colleagues at their agency on the meetings on the Hill. And this is where, you know, I mentioned storytelling, this is where these advocates have the moment to shine, to tell their story to our elected officials. It’s a very meaningful and impactful moment when our advocates say who they are. They talk about their employment journey, how they came to an NPA and how the AbilityOne program has helped them become and achieve their personal and economic independence.

Hoby: NPA meaning Associated Nonprofit Agency.

Vivian: Yes.

Hoby: Yes, sure. A lot of TLA’s out here, Three Letter Acronyms, right?

Vivian: Yes, it’s a town full of acronyms, so I apologize.

Hoby: It is. No, you’re fine. You’re great.

Vivian: But when these advocates sit down in a room with a senator, with a congressperson, and they lay out who they are and how this program, the AbilityOne program, and the job that they have with our Associated Nonprofit Agency has impacted their lives, that is very meaningful and it leaves a lasting impact, you know, because I can go on Capitol Hill on behalf of NIB and say we employ this many people, please support this bill or co-sponsor this letter, so on and so forth. It won’t leave as much of an impact on these offices as, say, a constituent coming up and saying, you know, I was struggling for years to find a job, and when I started working at XYZ Agency, this is when my life turned around.

Me telling the office all the data points can’t go in one ear and out the other because they have so many different meetings every day, and I’m sure they hear so many statistics and data points and everything. But when you have that personal connection and build this relationship, that’s where the change can happen. And that’s where people start to listen and really get affected and start to think about becoming a champion for this program.

Hoby: Do you sometimes see congressmen and women becoming emotional when they hear these stories and really getting that deep connection?

Vivian: Yes. You know, there are plenty of our representatives who even have some kind of personal tie to disability, to blindness. Maybe they have a friend or relative who is a person with a disability, so they can empathize and put themselves in that person’s position. And then when they hear a constituent of theirs come to their office and tell their story, it definitely resonates with them. And they do become emotional and they’re more receptive, which really helps us to advance our goals and our mission and create some kind of lasting and meaningful change.

Hoby: That’s incredible. And it’s so meaningful, and it’s such an impactful opportunity to literally go change policy and change law.

Vivian, one of the things I really want to ask you about is not only how you do the work on the Hill, and you do this during the Spring Conference, but how do the agencies that you support stay in touch with their congressmen and women throughout the year? Like, are there opportunities when Congress is on recess, maybe for visits? Like, tell me a little bit about, walk me through how that might work.

Vivian: Sure. So, yes, we definitely encourage our advocates and agencies to have a year-round advocacy outreach program campaign. And there are always opportunities that pop up for us to connect and continue building that relationship between the advocate, between the agency, and our elected officials, those policymakers that make the decisions.

And one such opportunity is during the summer recess when Congress goes back to their respective districts. And we always ask, you know, every year we typically ask our agencies and our advocates to reach out to their policymakers and see if they can schedule perhaps a tour of their facility, or some kind of visit, because these are their constituents and we want to showcase and show off the wonderful work that these agencies and facilities do every day, and how they employ people who are blind and visually impaired. How do they manufacture materials for the war fighter? And how do they do it with all these accommodations and adaptations?

So this is the perfect opportunity for a senator, a congressperson to go into an actual facility and connect with these workers who are blind and visually impaired and show them the wonderful work that they do every day.

Hoby: One of the aspects of the United States that I love so much is that Washington, DC is like a hub. And then you don’t often think about it when you’re there, but you’re working with people who are from your backyard, essentially. And when they’re on recess, they need to come see what’s going on in their district.

Vivian: Yep, it’s time to come home and see who elected you, number one, and really get the opportunity to network with them and to connect and connect what you heard while at the Spring Conference in your office in DC, and then connect it realistically with visiting their facility and seeing in real time what these employees are doing and how they are doing and how amazing they are at doing all this work.

Hoby: And, boy, if I was a policymaker, one of the things that I’d really appreciate about everything that NIB and the associated agencies do is that there’s nothing negative about that story. We’re giving a group that has a very high unemployment rate jobs. Like, what is there to complain about? Advocating for this, no matter what side of the aisle that you’re on, just feels good. Or should feel good.

Vivian: Are you really going to oppose employing blind people?

Hoby: Exactly.

Vivian: And a lot of this is things that are made in America, too. So how can you oppose that?

Hoby: Right. Exactly. Made in the USA, sold in the USA. It’s just made by folks who are blind or visually impaired. It’s hard to oppose.

So we’re now leading up to our Spring Conference in the middle of May. What are some of the hot topic issues that we’re going to be talking about on the Hill this May? And I’m excited because this is going to be my first time attending the Spring Conference.

Vivian: Right. Yeah, no, so we are currently still in the process of filing down the policies or priorities that we will be advocating for. One of the things that will most likely be on the agenda and on the list is that we are advocating for a Department of Defense 1% utilization goal for services and products.

Hoby: What does that mean?

Vivian: Well, that will increase the employment opportunities for people who are blind to work with the Department of Defense over the next few years. And it will just really increase how many jobs are out there for people who are blind and visually impaired.

Hoby: That’s incredible. So basically, it all comes down to advocating for more jobs, more employment opportunities with the associated nonprofit agencies for folks who are blind and visually impaired.

Vivian: Exactly. This is an option for people to attain employment. And it is a great option for people who are blind and don’t have any other opportunities. So anytime we can increase awareness, education, and the scope of the program is a win and is a way to help reduce that very high unemployment rate for people with disabilities, people who are blind, which I still can’t believe we had such a high number in 2024 of unemployment.

Hoby: Amazing.

Vivian: It is, in a bad way.

Hoby: In not a good way.

Vivian: Yeah. That’s why I am doing the work I do, because I am passionate. I want everyone to have this opportunity and be able to achieve their dreams, their independence.

Hoby: That’s why we do it.

Vivian: Exactly.

Hoby: So this story that you’ve told today, this web that we’ve woven together is really cool because you started in college wanting to help folks with disabilities. And your career led you to a few different places where you were able to grow and learn and have all those opportunities. And now we find you in this amazing job where you’re doing exactly what you set out to do when you were a college student.

Vivian: Yeah, it’s great. 10, 12 years ago when I was struggling and trying to figure out what am I going to do and everything just seemed like there was no hope. Now, it’s turned around so much and it’s come to a point where I’m doing exactly what I want to do. And I am following my passion, my interest and able to just really make a difference, or at least I hope I’m making a difference.

Hoby: And how good does that make you feel when you get up every morning and you can say, I’m doing what I want to do? I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do.

Vivian: It’s a very wonderful feeling.

Hoby: It’s empowering, right?

Vivian: Exactly, it’s very empowering and I am extremely grateful that all the opportunities I have had have led me to where I am at this very moment.

Hoby: I just absolutely love that. I think it’s incredible.

So our time, unfortunately, is running short, but I have a couple of questions that I just can’t stand not to ask you on air. So the first one is, I think what you’re doing as a public policy specialist is you’re giving back so much of what you’ve learned and opportunities that you’ve had in your career to help other folks who happen to be blind and visually impaired, but still absolutely capable and employable. You’re giving them that passion. You’re giving them that mentorship to get out there and get to work. And you’re able to train the advocates.

Do you have any mentors in the past that you think of and it’s like, “Oh man, that person really supported me and really saw a journey for me, maybe before I saw it for myself?”

Vivian: Oh, sure. I wouldn’t be here without mentors from my college days, whether it be a professor or even a fellow student. And I love just connecting with people who are in the disability community because we are all living this experience and we’re all in it and trying to navigate this space and navigate the world.

Hoby: Let’s do it together.

Vivian: Yeah. This world is not, unfortunately, it’s not as inclusive as it should be for people with disabilities, for people who are blind or visually impaired, as much as it should be. And when you tap your fellow person with a disability, fellow person who is blind, and even just sit down and chat like this in this kind of a forum or grab coffee and just really talk about your experiences, it’s a way to help you and the other person empower yourself and just think like, “Well, what else can we do to make sure that we are heard, we are included, we are not left behind? And we continue to fight and advocate every single day, no matter how we feel, just continue to go for it to make sure that we are part of everyday life.

Hoby: We are heard and we are empowered. Sorry, I had to throw that in there.

Vivian: Yes, exactly.

Hoby: I had to do that. And then my last question for you is, anyone who listens to this podcast is probably in favor of employing people who are blind or visually impaired. How can just a random citizen in a district here in the United States, in a political district, go to Congress and help advocate? Can we write letters? Can we make phone calls? Is there any way that we can help promote the mission of NIB?

Vivian: I would say stay informed, stay involved, be an ally for people who have disabilities. Disability rights are everyone’s rights and disability will affect everyone at some point in their life. I mean, there’s over a billion of us in the world and we’re the world’s largest minority. So you, everyone at some point in your life will face some kind of disability. And you need to take it upon yourself to learn the issues that are facing this community and find a way to connect with the people in that community. And just continue to fight alongside them for important policies, important changes, and really stand with us and just continue to make sure that there is nothing about us without us because –

Hoby: Amen. Amen, you said it. And Vivian, if other folks are as inspired by you as I am, which I’m sure they are, what’s the best way for people to get a hold of you?

Vivian: Sure. And I do hope people are inspired because we need all the help we can get. But I am definitely available through email and I can provide the details, my email address and work phone number. And I’m always happy to sit down and talk with someone or have a call with someone to discuss the important issues, to discuss the Advocates Program, anything with NIB. So I’d be more than happy to share my contact information with anyone and welcome anyone to get in touch.

Hoby: Thank you so much. And if you don’t mind, we’ll include your contact information in the show notes.

Vivian: Yes.

Hoby: Thank you.

Vivian: Please do. Please do. No, thank you so much.

Hoby: Vivian, it has been so wonderful having you on the show today. Thank you so much. You are an inspiration to us all and a shining star of this week’s episode. So thank you for being you and I can’t wait to hang out with you at the Spring Conference.

Vivian: Thank you so much, it’s been a pleasure.

Hoby: And we may have you on again sometime soon to talk about more advocacy work, okay?

Vivian: Sounds good to me.

Hoby: Have a lovely day.

Vivian: Thank you, you too.

Hoby: Take care. Yeah, thank you.

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