People You Should Know

Interview by Stuart Wittenstein

Name: Mark A. Riccobono

Organization: National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute

Contact Information: 1800 Johnson Street, Baltimore, Maryland, 21230.

Phone: (410) 659-9314 Email:

Please explain what you do:

I serve as the Director of Education for the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute. I like to think about what I do as finding innovative new ways to build on the rich history of the Federation and its principles. The theme of the Jernigan Institute is "Imagine a future full of opportunities." I think about that as I come to work every day and it shapes my work.

I also view what I do as innovating ways for consumers, through the NFB, and professionals in the field to collaborate to build that future full of opportunities. This can be challenging because in the field of blindness many deep rooted feelings exist and memories are long. Also, surprisingly, despite the size of our field both consumers and professionals have misconceptions about the field and the motivations of various people and organizations.

At the Jernigan Institute, the education staff I supervise handles a number of projects. These include a National demonstration mentoring project, the completion and administration of the National Literary Braille Competency Test, a model youth transition club, early childhood initiatives, an online education program, and programs under an initiative we call the National Center for Blind Youth in Science. What I do in short is help build innovative educational programs to improve opportunities for the upcoming generations of blind youth. I also spend time getting to know what other people are doing and helping to promote excellence in the field. Just think of people you came across who were doing great things in the education of blind children but their efforts, although innovative, were largely unknown by others in the field.

One example of this is a project I am supervising which is being carried out by Professor Matt Maurer of Butler University. Professor Maurer is going around to schools for the blind and visiting with itinerant teachers to learn about common traits amongst great teachers in our field. He is putting together some writing on this topic and related topics in an effort to help move the education of blind children forward in a positive way.

With the rest of my typical work day, I am usually communicating with parents, blind students, and blind adults from around the country. Well, this usually means there is no typical day since I am not one to cut short the valuable opportunity to assist a parent, to provide resources and contacts to students, and to strategize with blind adults about meaningful ways they can help ensure that local school districts are doing what they need to do. I suppose typical day was not really a good choice. I guess it boils down to the fact that I do whatever needs to be done on a daily basis to make a positive impact, directly or indirectly, on the lives of blind children, their families, and those who provide them with services.

How did your career begin? Why did you choose the career that you did?

Let me give a little background in order to properly answer this question. I have been blind all my life. Technically, I have been legally blind. I have Aniridia and Glaucoma. As a child I never considered myself to be blind. I started reading large print (receiving large print books) in third grade and by fifth grade I needed significant magnification to read the large print (I remember reading large print books with a monocular if you can believe that). I had many surgeries to control the pressure in my eyes but my young body kept bouncing back and it seemed every couple of years or so I was due for another round. I didn't know any other blind kids when I was young. It never really seemed to bother me. I did get frustrated trying to get through school work (kids today can be glad that the mimeograph has been replaced). I was extremely active, did well in school, and had many friends. The first time I remember blindness being a problem was in sixth grade. In gym class we had to run a u-shaped pattern and catch a football at the peak of the run. Needless to say the running was no problem. Other kids made fun of my poor attempts to make spectacular catches of a ball I could not see and I got pretty upset by the experience. Afterwards the teacher told me that someday I might be able to get contacts or better glasses and than I would be just fine. This experience, and certainly others, taught me to believe that there was a problem that only vision could solve.

When it was time to consider a high school, I carefully examined the options. I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and at that time students got to select which high school they wished to go to. Each school had a specialization. I was interested in the school which focused on media because I was a big baseball fan and figured that I could be in the broadcast booth. But, I also went to a presentation by Juneau High School which had a focus in business. Maybe their presentation was better but I think it was the idea of building my own business that got me excited. Taking an idea and turning it into something. Juneau was my choice and, as it turned out, they also had a resource room for students who are blind. (I pause to note that in today's world I wonder if I would have been allowed to follow my interests and preferences so strongly or whether I would have simply been steered toward a placement which was best suited to provide services or maybe I simply made the right choice and avoided the fight for a school which did not have the concentrated resources that Juneau did.)

I provide this lengthy background because it includes some important facts about why I got on the career path I am now on. At Juneau, I got to know other blind students and started to understand my blindness better. However, I did notice subtle things that continued to reinforce the notion that as a blind person I was different but because I had some vision I had some advantages. That is an issue for a different discussion.

Thus, let me mention 3 other points of background. First, I did pursue the business track, I was good at it. I completed the entrepreneurship program there including running my own sports cards business during my senior year. Secondly, shortly before beginning high school, I lost all of the vision in my left eye and the vision in my right eye wasn't anything to brag about. Yet, I received some helpful resources and guidance from the program for blind students while I largely participated in mainstream classes. However, amongst other failings of the system, I was not taught Braille. It is fair to say that I was informally offered Braille. When I was a senior, debate over the Braille bill in Wisconsin was raging. My teacher commented that I could be taught Braille if I wanted to learn it. As a senior in high school running a small business, taking 2 advanced placement courses (amongst others), and as a member of the track team and other clubs, when did I have time? Besides, I was not given any reason why I might want or need to learn Braille. Third, the teacher who was directing the resource room at Juneau did two things. He tried to convince me that I should go into teaching, in which I did not have any interest. I was hearing this, as a typical teenager who knew what was best for my own life and, besides, I knew I could do business (I did not need to leave my comfort zone). Secondly, he convinced me to consider going to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The first time I ever saw this teacher use a white cane (he had RP) was when he and a mobility instructor jumped on a bus with me and we went to visit Madison. One visit was all it took. My imagination was in high gear. I was impressed with the opportunities Madison provided in terms of academics, clubs and cultural activities, stimulating debates, and coeds. I was thrilled to get accepted and I pushed through the first two years and was accepted to the business school. I worked twice as hard as I would have needed to had I had some skills of blindness, like Braille.

In 1996 some events happened to change my course. First, I received a scholarship from the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin. More importantly, I attended the NFB National Convention in California and found dozens of mentors who began to teach me things I was missing about my life due to my avoidance of my blindness. Secondly, I attended and spoke on a panel at a Wisconsin AER meeting for the first time. Not only was I beginning to learn the skills and perspectives needed to truly be a successful blind person, I was getting interested in the stimulating discussions about the education of blind children.

My involvement in the blindness field continued. In 1997, I attended the National Conventions of both the NFB and the ACB and in that same summer I learned Braille. I continued to participate in the NFB and had many opportunities to do advocacy related to the education of children. Upon graduating from college with my Bachelors in Business Administration, I attended the Colorado Center for the Blind to polish my blindness skills. I secured a job in the Sears, Roebuck, and Company's National Executive Trainee Program (business world here I come). While working for Sears I spent much of my free time working on advocacy issues and with the transition of educational services for blind children in the state of Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction was seeking a Director for the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired (the recently reorganized School for the Visually Handicapped and statewide outreach services). The position posting had been extended. I had been extremely involved in the development of the Transition Plan for the Center and its implementation was the primary duty of the Director. Mostly out of passion and with a twist of naiveté, I applied for the job. To my surprise, as well as most educators of blind children in Wisconsin who had not heard of me, I was offered the job. In accepting the job you might say I dove head first into my career.

Needless to say I had a lot to learn but, I believe, I also had something to offer. Since that moment I have been doing everything I can to learn about education, the education of blind children, the politics and pitfalls of education, and about the key players in the field. My business, marketing, leadership, and project management skills have all come in extremely handy in the process.

Since that moment I have been administrating programs for the education of blind children of one type or another. And now I am putting some book experience behind the real world experience as I complete a Masters in Education at Johns Hopkins University. But why? I think there are two reasons. First, when I was working for Sears I quickly learned that selling stuff did not matter to me at all and, in fact, I did not find that much challenge or reward in it. Maybe there was money but that was not even close to sparking my imagination (although I do spend lots of time thinking about what other programs I can help innovate if I have more of it). I learned that I had a passion, a passion for creating programs for kids, for building something better than I had, for helping empower others to teach blind children how to build and achieve their own dreams. Secondly, I saw a need. I saw a need then and I see a need now -- a need for leadership, innovation, and passion to continue in the field of work with blind children. Some might say that demonstrates a sense of arrogance on my part. But it is not that I have ever believed that I have all the answers, it’s that I am willing to get in there to try to make things better, to build better partnerships, and get to the end goal we all want for children who are blind. Some might say that for Mark Riccobono the why has to do with the fact that I am an idealist. I think that's fine. If I have one professional goal every year it is to continue being an optimist.

What 2 or 3 accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction?

This is a tough question because one of my faults is that I am very hard on myself. I am always looking at what we have yet to achieve (strength or weakness, you decide). But there are a couple of things that stand out.

First, when I became the Director of the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired there was one major dragon always looming. That was the legislative audit which was to occur after 3 years under the reorganized structure. Although I can not say we achieved everything we wanted, we did have an extremely positive audit, certainly the most positive the organization had seen in well over a decade. There are a great many people who helped get the organization to that point and we all had many barriers to overcome. It gives me great pride to know that I helped lead the organization to that outcome.

Secondly, with the National Federation of the Blind I have been blessed with the opportunity to lead an initiative we call the National Center for Blind Youth in Science. In just two years we have mounted an aggressive campaign to change opportunities for the blind in science, technology, engineering, and math careers. We have built tremendous partnerships, put forth a bold vision, and are implementing programs to match that vision. We established the NFB Science Academy where blind youth under the direction of blind mentors and NASA scientists get to build and launch a NASA rocket; created an internship program for students just leaving high school to get early work experience at NASA; are in the process of creating a comprehensive Web Portal for all materials and resources related to the blind in science (www.blindscience.org); and more. It has been a lot of work but truly rewarding. It also gives me great hope for what we can build in the future. I am fortunate to work at the Jernigan Institute where these types of ground breaking activities are cultivated.