Brandye: When you see blind people using forklifts, when you see people just getting around, doing their job, pushing out all these products, it’s something amazing to see.

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: Happy Wednesday and welcome back to the Heard & Empowered podcast. I am so excited to have you here today. We’re here to talk to an amazing advocate guest with a wonderful story who I can’t wait to introduce to you in just a moment.

Before I do so, I just want to thank you so much for your love and support of the show. Thank you for sharing it with your friends, thank you for sharing it with anyone in your network or on social media who you think might be interested in how blind people can get jobs and earn gainful employment just like their sighted peers. Because that’s what we’re talking about here through National Industries for the Blind and all the nonprofit agencies that are supported.

Today’s episode is being recorded live in Washington DC at the 2024 NIB Public Policy Forum. So we’re super excited about it. Please give us a five-star review if you think we’re worthy of it and please write something in your review. Even one word would be very sufficient, but we need you to write something in order for it to really count towards our success. Thank you again for your involvement, for talking it up and doing everything in your power to help us reach even more sets of ears.

Today, we’re going to have an amazing conversation with an advocate, a seasoned advocate of one of the nonprofit agencies here at Public Policy Forum. I’m here with Brandye Lacy. Brandye, welcome to the show.

Brandye: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Hoby: Well, we’re so excited that you’re here with us and that you were willing to record. I hear great things about your work as an advocate. And before we get started about what we are advocating for this year and all this, I really want to get to know a little bit about the person behind the mission. So if you can just share with us a little bit of your background, kind of where you grew up, when you lost your eyesight, and how you ended up where you are today.

Brandye: Okay, sure. So I’m from Lake Jackson, Texas, it’s southeast of Houston. And I started losing my vision maybe around the seventh grade, but it was a secret. I hid it from everyone, but I was finally discovered when I was about 15 when they kept trying to get me to do a vision test and I’d be like, “Oh, I forgot my glasses.” Finally, they were like, “Wait, hold on. We’re going to have to call your parents.” And I was like, “Okay, honestly, I’m just legally blind.” I just was really nervous about the school knowing.

Hoby: Did your parents know?

Brandye: Oh yeah, they knew.

Hoby: Okay.

Brandye: They took me to every doctor possible, trying to figure out what was wrong. I have retinitis pigmentosa, but it came in kind of a rare form. So we were going to all types of doctors, trying to see what it was, but we hadn’t told the school yet. And I was like, “Oh, I’m going to get put in special classes.” I was just so worried I wouldn’t be able to run track anymore. Yeah, so I hid it as much as I could. But once they found out, things changed the same. I just got more help.

Growing up I always was interested in the communications field. Ever since I was younger, I had a mentor. She used to work community relations for the Houston Rockets.

Hoby: Really?

Brandye: Yeah. So I was like, “Oh, that’s what I want to do.”

Hoby: So you loved communications from that point on.

Brandye: From the beginning. I remember when I was five years old, there’s a tape of me pretending to be a news reporter at the Thanksgiving Macy’s Day Parade.

Hoby: I love it. I love it.

Brandye: So yeah, it’s been a long-time dream. I went to college for it and then I got to the Austin Lighthouse and eventually, I moved into this role.

Hoby: And what is your current role?

Brandye: So I’m the marketing coordinator.

Hoby: Which basically means you have to do it all, right?

Brandye: I do it all. All the internal and external communications and everything like that, yeah.

Hoby: Wow. Wow, so like website maintenance.

Brandye: Exactly.

Hoby: And making sure the copy is written well on the website and all that.

Brandye: Right.

Hoby: All that good stuff that’s so important.

Brandye: Yes.

Hoby: Awesome. Well, this is great. So you found your dream job in a way.

Brandye: I did.

Hoby: That’s so cool. I want to move into your role as an advocate. So what made you get excited about this Public Policy Forum and being an advocate at the Austin Lighthouse sort of early on?

Brandye: I was so excited when I got selected. Public policy, that was also another dream, a dream by accident though. When I was in college I was majoring in communications, minoring in Spanish. And then about my third year, my Spanish teacher was like, “You need to change your minor because this is not working out for you.”

Hoby: Oh no.

Brandye: So I went to my advisor and I was like, “What can I do? I’m about to graduate. I have to do this whole minor.” She was like, “Well, try political science.” And so I was like, “Okay.” And there was one class, public policy and social welfare, I just loved that class. I went from a student that really didn’t say much to just someone who had something to say about everything because I just enjoy advocating for others.

Hoby: Wow, you loved it.

Brandye: Yes.

Hoby: And what was it called? Public policy and social welfare?

Brandye: Yes. So we talked about criminal justice, welfare, just anything.

Hoby: You covered it all.

Brandye: Yes, social security, yeah. So when this opportunity came up at the Lighthouse, I was so excited. I was like, “Yes, this is meant for me.”

Hoby: Because you get to make a difference.

Brandye: Yes, exactly.

Hoby: Absolutely. Tell me, please, how the advocacy program works. So what does it mean? You’ve been an advocate, you said, since 2016?

Brandye: Yes, that’s correct.

Hoby: Wow. And you’ve been to every conference, every Public Policy Forum since then.

Brandye: Yes, except for Covid, the 2020 one. But I’ve been to every one, yeah.

Hoby: Oh my gosh. I love that. So what does it mean to be an advocate? What are some of the responsibilities?

Brandye: So we are basically the voice for our agency. We go through a two-year training program where they teach us the best ways to speak to our representatives, to reach out to them, to present an issue. And so once we get our issues that we’re going to present to our representatives, we go out there and not only just talk about that issue and how it affects blind people and our jobs, but also we share the stories of what these jobs mean to each other because a lot of people don’t know that. It’s just something you don’t think about, but they don’t realize how these jobs just change people’s livelihoods. They’re doing so many things that they wouldn’t have been able to do before if it wasn’t for these jobs that are provided through AbilityOne®.

Hoby: And the trainings are pretty rigorous, right? You do a call every month.

Brandye: Yeah, a monthly call. And then we did a training session when we came to Washington DC for the first time. It was just two days straight of training, practicing standing up and presenting your elevator speeches.

Hoby: I love it. Getting critique.

Brandye: Exactly, yeah. It was a good time though.

Hoby: That’s a good time.

Brandye: I loved it, yeah.

Hoby: And you really, being such a communicator and someone in political science, it only makes sense that you work as an advocate, right? It just fits you perfectly.

Brandye: Yeah, it does.

Hoby: I love that. Let’s go to this year, tell me what the big ask is on the Hill this year.

Brandye: So we are asking for DoD to have a 1% utilization goal. So that means that we just want them to spend 1%. I think we’re at about 0.5 right now, so we want them to just double their spending because it will make a world of difference for the people who work at these NIB-associated agencies and the other people that are part of AbilityOne.

Hoby: 0.5% to 1%, that sounds kind of small, like not a huge, huge thing. But you and I know because we are in this industry, we know that’s a huge deal. Can you explain to us what the magnitude of it is?

Brandye: When you expand that spending amount, you create more job opportunities for people who are blind. So, there’s more people working on these projects. And not only that, but you’re helping the agency to do other things in the community. One thing that we do at the Austin Lighthouse, we’re expanding our mission services programs. So we’re doing independent living training, orientation and mobility. And it’s all helping because if we raise more money, people are buying more of our products, we do the GOJO and Purell SKILCRAFT products, then we can spend more money to help the community.

Hoby: Wow. And then the community can essentially learn and gain more skills using funds earned by selling products.

Brandye: Exactly.

Hoby: So you can actually go back and fund your programs using monies that were made on selling products.

Brandye: Exactly. And it makes such a big difference. In Austin, we have 45,000 people that identify as having a visual impairment.

Hoby: Really?

Brandye: Yeah, and most people don’t even know about it. So people come in for tours and they learn about these programs and they’re like, “Oh, I didn’t know I could still use a laundromat or washer and dryer. I didn’t know I could still bake cookies. I didn’t know that you had this low vision store where I can buy these magnifiers and bump dots and anything else that I need to continue living just a regular life.”

So, yeah, that extra money that people are spending on our products, we get to spread it out. Show the love to the whole community.

Hoby: I love it. How many people are in Austin?

Brandye: Oh my gosh. I’m not even sure, it’s growing every day.

Hoby: 45,000 is a significant percent of the total population who happens to be blind or visually impaired.

Brandye: I think we might be the third largest city in Texas behind Houston and Dallas.

Hoby: Okay.

Brandye: So, it’s a pretty big number.

Hoby: It’s a big city, a bustling city too. No, I love that. I’m really, really excited to hear this from you. And let’s go back to what we’re doing this year. So, we’re asking for a 1% mandated spend, mandated basically by Congress, saying that the Department of Defense needs to spend at least 1% of its total annual budget on AbilityOne products and services.

Brandye: Right.

Hoby: I love that. I love that. Let’s do a little role play here if you don’t mind.

Brandye: Okay.

Hoby: So I’m really curious. I want to learn if from your experience as a longtime advocate, let’s say that I am a congressman in Texas, you come into my office, what would you say to me?

Brandye: Let’s see.

Hoby: We’re going to be up on the Hill later this week and I just want to know how you would go about this in convincing me that this is a good thing to do.

Brandye: That’s a great question. We have a new congressman, so I’m going to pretend like you’re new.

Hoby: Oh, good. I’m a newbie, I don’t know anything.

Brandye: I always like to introduce ourselves and just ask and say, “Hey, have you ever been out on the National Mall and used any of the sanitizer that’s in the restroom?”

Hoby: I have.

Brandye: You have used products that were probably made by blind people at the Austin Lighthouse.

Hoby: What?

Brandye: Yes, those are SKILCRAFT products.

Hoby: Holy cow.

Brandye: You are changing the lives of many just from that one squirt of hand sanitizer into your hands.

Hoby: I guess I got to clean my hands more or something, I don’t know.

Brandye: Yes, you do. Exactly. And what that sanitizer and soap that’s in those bathrooms, what it means to us is that people can go out and they can take care of their families. They can try new trainings where they can go and see, “hey, maybe I want to learn something new and go out and try something different.” Try a different career and get trained by one of these Lighthouses.

When you spend that money, when you increase the amount that people are using to buy our products, you’re opening up services for more people who don’t even know about us. You’re helping just a whole group of people that just need just a little bit of help just by you spending your money on these products. It’s just such a wide range of products that are available.

Hoby: Yeah. Blind people are employed just like sighted folks, right?

Brandye: Well, so we are about, it’s about a 70% unemployment rate for people who are blind.

Hoby: 70%, oh my gosh.

Brandye: Yes, so we are way over the national average. So this is really important to us because there are so many people out there that want to work and they don’t have the opportunities. People won’t give them a chance. And so you’re helping give them that chance by passing legislation that’s going to get more products into people’s hands that are made by people who are blind.

Hoby: Right. And this 1% legislation is very powerful because it’ll increase that spend. I’m definitely in favor of it.

Brandye: Exactly, because y’all are already doing a good job at that 0.5%. We’re just asking you to boost it a little bit more.

Hoby: Bump it up a little more, there you go.

Brandye: Just a little bit.

Hoby: I love it. Well, that was fun. And that really gives our listeners a good idea of, you want to make it personable, right? When you go talk to someone, they’re just people. They just want to be considered like people. How do you, as an advocate, keep engaging your men and women of Congress for the rest of the year when you’re not here at Public Policy Forum?

Brandye: So I’m always sending them emails or giving them a call when there’s something new that’s happening at the Lighthouse or some new legislation that is in discussions and meetings on Capitol Hill. And we often invite them to come participate in some of our events. And we have ice cream socials and we have grand openings.

Hoby: Nice!

Brandye: Just anything we can think of to make them come. Like, “Hey, come stop by.”

Hoby: Come hang out.

Brandye: Yeah.

Hoby: Have you ever taken them on tours?

Brandye: We do. And that’s one of the things we always say, that’s like the best part. It’s one thing for me to sit there and tell you what we do, what the blind people at the Austin Lighthouse are doing. But when you actually come in and see, when you see blind people using forklifts, when you see people just getting around, doing their job, pushing out all these products, it’s something amazing to see.

Hoby: So I’m totally blind myself, and I would like to know how a blind person uses a forklift.

Brandye: So we have these little, well, they’re actually called turret trucks.

Hoby: Okay.

Brandye: And you do have to have a little bit of vision to do it. Most turret trucks go up and down and side to side. But we have these little rails in our warehouse and you put in your location where you’re going to drop off a pallet, you put it in the computer, that computer slides you down to that aisle, and then it lifts you up. And then you just, you and your little forks, you put those pallets into place. And it’s just so simple.

Hoby: Got it.

Brandye: Yeah.

Hoby: So the truck actually lifts, like if I was sitting in it, I would get lifted up too?

Brandye: Yes. Usually it’s just the forks that’ll go up and you have to look up and see what’s happening, but yeah, you go up with that little pallet.

Hoby: Fascinating. See, I learned something new. This is what blind people can do, they can drive forklifts around or turret trucks and load pallets on stacks. Yeah. And I imagine bringing them into the facility and engaging them that way whenever they’re on break is a really good way to keep them interested. And when they see one of us come into their space, they’re going to remember us.

Brandye: Right.

Hoby: Yeah. You’re in Austin, so you’re in the state capital of Texas.

Brandye: That’s right.

Hoby: Can you tell me about any state and even local work that you guys do in terms of advocacy?

Brandye: So we actually work with the Texas Workforce Commission. They are the people that help just your everyday Texan get a job, including people with disabilities. So we contract with them. They’ll send over clients who are trying to get into the workforce and we’ll do an assessment. And if they need independent living, we’ll do that. If they need orientation and mobility, we got them. And if they’re looking for some adaptive technology, we can work with them so they can use screen readers and magnifiers.

And we’ll also help with job coaching and vocational counseling. If they need to come and see some of the jobs that we’re doing, if they want to sit in with me in marketing or with our customer service team. So that’s what we do with the state and partners with them.

We also work with the deaf community as well. We have several DeafBlind people that work at the agency. And so we do an internship with two of the state schools, the Texas School for the Blind and the Texas School for the Deaf. So they come over and they learn the skills they need to know. We just had some that graduated on Thursday.

Hoby: Wow.

Brandye: Yeah.

Hoby: Wow. So you serve the DeafBlind population as well, which I think is such an awesome thing because when I think about that group, I think about a group that really does not necessarily get the services they deserve.

Brandye: Exactly.

Hoby: So I think it’s phenomenal what you do.

Brandye: Thank you.

Hoby: That’s really good. And the other thing I would imagine of the Texas Workforce Commission is not only do you train folks on independent living skills and O&M and access to technology, but I bet a lot of people that come from the workforce actually end up getting jobs with you.

Brandye: That is very true.

Hoby: So it’s a recruiting arm too.

Brandye: It really is, because people, they’ll come and they’re like, “Oh, we didn’t realize we could do that. We didn’t even realize you were here. Can we have a job?”

Hoby: Interesting.

Brandye: So yeah, we do.

Hoby: And then on the local level, do you guys do anything just within the city of Austin?

Brandye: We do. We participate in a lot of the community events and we host some ourselves. Not too long ago, we did a Covid clinic. I’m not sure if you remember, in the beginning it was so hard for people to get vaccinations because the system wasn’t accessible. And so we just made it easy for everyone, invited everyone that was blind and their families, come on down. No need to worry about that system. We can help you get your vaccinations. And we did that with the flu as well. So yeah, we try to do what we can. We’re really getting into the community events right now.

Hoby: That is truly incredible. And I bet during Covid, based on the fact that you guys work with Purell SKILCRAFT and GOJO SKILCRAFT, I bet you were really busy.

Brandye: Oh my gosh, that’s not even the word. We were working 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Hoby: Oh my gosh, Wow.

Brandye: And the funny thing about it is that everybody wanted to do it. It wasn’t like we were like, “Oh no, I don’t want to do this.” It was people from other departments, we were shutting down our 3PL warehouse where they do the distribution work and people were coming over to skincare to help us get those orders out. We got so much congratulations and everything from the community. We got several letters from the White House, from the Secret Service. We had the office of President Obama ordering from –

Hoby: Really?

Brandye: Yes, it was so many people.

Hoby: That’s crazy, just because Covid was such a scary thing. Wow. And that’s also bringing us back to advocacy and public policy. If you can step up in a time of need, that’s when people remember.

Brandye: Right.

Hoby: And that’s when people say, okay, I know what these amazing folks are doing on the daily and they remember that and they stick to that and they can use that. I guess the point that I’m trying to make is that every little bit of positive reinforcement in their minds helps.

Brandye: Right.

Hoby: Yeah, that is wonderful. Do you always get excited or a little nervous or a little bit of both before Hill day?

Brandye: A little bit of both. A lot of times when we’re out there, since in Texas there’s so many of us, I think there’s nine agencies.

Hoby: Wow.

Brandye: So when we meet with our senators, it’s all of us together and that’s always fun. It’s a group activity and we all just take our turns and we work so well together sharing our stories and talking about the ask.

Hoby: I love it.

Brandye: But when it’s just me and my district rep, I get a little nervous.

Hoby: Yeah, but it’s all good.

Brandye: Yeah.

Hoby: Are you meeting with mostly staffers or actual representatives Wednesday?

Brandye: This Wednesday we’re meeting with mostly staffers.

Hoby: But that’s awesome.

Brandye: Yeah.

Hoby: Connecting. And by the way, that’s another sort of misnomer I think that we can talk about, is meeting with a staffer can be just as valuable because they’re going to remember you, they’re going to talk to their representative, et cetera, et cetera.

Brandye: Exactly.

Hoby: And you’re going to have more time, right?

Brandye: Right, they’re always willing to talk. And a lot of times they’re the ones who are saying, “Hey, this is really important.” And they’re passing that legislation on to that senator or congressman. So I’m always like, “Okay, if they can’t meet, yeah, I’ll meet with the staffer. That’s great.”

Hoby: Absolutely.

Brandye: They’re just as important.

Hoby: No, absolutely. And who are you here with from your agency this week? Is it just you?

Brandye: No, so our CEO, Jim Meehan, he came, he’s coming with us. And so me and him will be in the meeting. My mom actually came too.

Hoby: That’s awesome.

Brandye: But yeah, from the Austin Lighthouse, it’ll be me and our CEO.

Hoby: Amazing. Oh, that’s so cool. I love it. Well, we’re going to have a good time. It’s an absolute honor to chat with you. Let me just ask a kind of open-ended question here. What else would you like to tell me about the experience of being an advocate that maybe I didn’t ask about, that we should know about? Or did we cover everything off pretty well?

Brandye: We did cover everything, but I’m not sure if I said it enough that this is such a life-changing experience to get out there and tell your own story.

Hoby: Yes.

Brandye: Because a lot of people don’t realize, some people they’ll have their disability and they’ll try and go back to the background and not be noticed. But it’s so important for us to tell our own stories because we are the experts on our disabilities.

Hoby: So important, it’s true.

Brandye: So it’s important that we get out there and let people know, like, this is how this is going to affect me. And this is what you can do to help.

Hoby: Yeah.

Brandye: We can all work together to make a better world for everybody.

Hoby: So true. And what a difference we’re making when we can, you know, a lot of times people will watch the television or listen to the news and say, “Oh, I wish they did it differently.” And here we are, we’re actually out able to help make a difference.

Brandye: Exactly.

Hoby: And help our community, right? And when we’re the advocates, we are the ones supporting so many people who can benefit, right?

Brandye: Exactly.

Hoby: I love it. I just love that. A couple of other questions for you. I want to just hear your answers and your thoughts behind these things. So if someone working at an agency is interested in becoming an advocate, what would you tell them? How do they get involved? How do they build that relationship with NIB’s public policy group?

Brandye: Okay, so currently NIB is trying to make sure that every agency has at least one advocate. And so I think we’re almost there. They’ve opened it up to agencies that have satellite locations. Like we have one in Taylor.

Hoby: Oh really?

Brandye: In Taylor, Texas. Yes.

Hoby: I didn’t know that.

Brandye: So we were opening it up to like, okay, for these satellite locations.

Hoby: Because they’re different representatives.

Brandye: Right. So that’s one way. If you don’t have an advocate already at your agency, then reach out to NIB, fill out that application. And one thing you can prepare yourself is maybe work with the advocate. If there’s already one at your agency, see what you can do to partner with them and try and learn what they know. And you can always be an advocate. Like you don’t have to be part of a program to advocate for yourself.

So that’s one of the biggest parts of it. Just get out there, start advocating, stand up for what you believe in and what’s important to you. And just get to know your representatives. You can always write your own representatives.

Hoby: And no one’s going to complain, right, if you just want to get involved and send letters or make phone calls to your representatives.

Brandye: Exactly.

Hoby: No one’s going to say, “Hey, only one advocate per agency. Don’t do that.”

Brandye: Right, the more the better.

Hoby: Right.

Brandye: Yes. I love that. That’s great. And then I just think this is such a valuable question. Let’s say someone is really maybe new to sight loss, is really interested in potentially working at an agency and has the skills they need, but they’re nervous about jumping off and entering the workforce. What would you tell them? What advice would you give them?

Brandye: That’s a good question. It’s always great to go tour the agency.

Hoby: Yeah.

Brandye: And then also just think about it, these agencies, they’ve worked with people with disabilities for so long.

Hoby: So many years.

Brandye: And it’s just a comfortable environment. This was actually my first job.

Hoby: Nice.

Brandye: Yeah, I hadn’t worked anywhere before and I was trying to get out.

Hoby: And you landed a marketing communications job.

Brandye: Well, I actually started out sewing chin straps.

Hoby: Really?

Brandye: And working in our soap department. So I kind of worked my way up.

Hoby: Very cool. That’s another opportunity, right? There’s always upward mobility.

Brandye: Always.

Hoby: Wow.

Brandye: You never know.

Hoby: Wow. So tour an agency, get involved, get out there and just take that plunge. Just do it.

Brandye: Yes, just fill out that application. Do it.

Hoby: I love it. I love it. I love it. This is awesome. I know people that listen to this episode are going to be super inspired and probably a few are going to want to get ahold of you. What’s the best way to reach you?

Brandye: Okay, well, I am on all social media. Brandye Lacy on LinkedIn and Facebook and what else? Instagram. I’m on all of those.

Hoby: TikTok yet?

Brandye: I do a little TikTok. A little TikTok. And then also I’m available at brandye.lacy@austinlighthouse.org. Or if you ever just email our general inbox info@austinlighthouse, that’s me answering you. So yeah.

Hoby: Nice. And do you want to spell that out, brandyelacy@lighthouse?

Brandye: Oh, sure. It’s brandy, B-R-A-N-D-Y-E, dot Lacy, L-A-C-Y at A-U-S-T-I-N L-I-G-H-T-H-O-U-S-E dot org.

Hoby: Brandye, thank you so much. It’s been such a great time chatting with you and getting to know you and really getting that deep down advocate experience.

Brandye: Thanks for having me. This was so much fun, I enjoyed this.

Hoby: Thank you, my friend. And we’re going to have to have you back on to talk about marketing and communications for a nonprofit agency in the near future.

Brandye: Oh yeah, definitely. Right.

Hoby: All right. Well, cheers. Good luck on the Hill today, or this week.

Brandye: Thank you.

Hoby: Good luck on the Hill this week.

Brandye: Right.

Hoby: Cheers.

Brandye: Cheers.

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