“The best and most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen or even touched.
They must be felt with the heart.”
— Helen Keller

At first glance club #7509's weekly Toastmasters meeting is like any you might find at lunchtime on Fridays. Yet a closer look offers clues it's different than most. Although indoors, many members are wearing tinted glasses. The published agenda has no ink on it, just Braille dots. And guide dogs are seated at the side of members. Welcome to the Lions Blind Toastmasters club, a partnership of Toastmasters International and the Lions Club of America, which meets at Oakland, California's Lions Center for the Blind.

After the opening gavel is sounded, members sound off in a form of a roll call: Iona, Dan, Virgil, Edna, Asia, Betty, Josie, Larry, Mona, Peggy and others announce their presence vocally. As each name is heard, other members murmur in recognition.

Like many clubs, the Lions Blind Toastmasters meeting begins weekly with the pledge of allegiance, followed by the president’s introduction of that week’s Toastmaster. This week’s meeting is especially poignant with the recent passing of President Ronald Reagan and legendary blind Jazz pianist and singer Ray Charles. Each profoundly impacted members and, accordingly, they share their remembrances of these stellar communicators in the week’s Table Topics.

The prepared speeches this week come from the C&L manual. Speaker Dan Peterson's "show what you mean" speech is about the jitterbug. Remarkably, he does more than describe it. He asks for a partner and narrates the steps as he and his partner dip and sway. "Toe and heel, toe and heel, back-step…"

Why, you ask, would he dance when nobody can see him?

Just as a smile comes through over the telephone even though we can’t see the smiler, so too is Dan’s message authenticated through his movements. Members feel his energy and hear his exhilaration. As I close my eyes and listen I am struck by the vitality in Dan’s voice and the positive vibrations emanating from the makeshift dance floor behind the lectern.

Another speaker, Daniel Everett, gives speech #3 about fishing. He explains the license procedure, then describes his pole and narrates the casting action of his rod on the river. We’re on the expedition with him.

Expanding a Contracting World

Some club members have been blind for years. Others are currently succumbing to blindness at various ages. Others are partially sighted.)

"It can be harrowing," according to Peggy Nichols, executive director of the center. She explains the special role Toastmasters plays for those whose Retinitis Pigmentosa is advancing.

"When members lose their sight they have a tendency to draw inward and their advocacy for self goes away, she says." Their world closes in on them. Toastmasters helps them expand that world again. It helps them negotiate their world powerfully at a time when they may be feeling powerless and victimized.

Toastmasters fits in well with the vocational training the center offers. More than a few members tell me it’s their favorite activity of the week."

Advocating for Themselves

Peggy continues: "Some take no for an answer instead of asking questions that sighted people might ask, such as:

Why not?

When can I…?

How can I…?"

"They have a tendency not to push. Toastmasters helps our people develop the courage to ask questions for themselves and speak their minds. They become advocates for themselves."

There's something intrinsically gratifying about experiencing people supporting each other while actively building their skills. The Lions Center for the Blind, like Toastmasters, fosters understanding, community and a learning environment where mastery builds self-esteem.

While helping prepare its members for independence in a sighted world, the best of the human spirit comes together each Friday at the Lions Blind Toastmasters Club in Oakland. I invite all of you to visit this extraordinary club, or build one within your district in conjunction with your local Lions blind center.

Meeting the Challenges of Life