Achieving sight again

Goodwill went out of its way to help the visually impaired.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Otho Mae Braziel believes she is living proof -- an example for other visually impaired people that they can be more than they think they can.
Braziel, supervisor of the contracts department at Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries, was born with a degenerative condition that has caused her eyesight to gradually worsen to the point where she is legally blind.
Recently she has begun using a cane for support and to warn her of changes in elevation and obstacles outside the Goodwill facility and her Boardman home.
"At first, it was embarrassing. I really didn't want to accept that I needed help," she said.
But, like other setbacks in her life, she has found a way to overcome it.
Braziel was born in Akron and moved to Youngstown at an early age. She attended the sight-saving class for the visually impaired at Adams Elementary through the sixth grade and graduated in 1965 from East High School.
"It was very difficult in high school. Kids will be kids, and they picked on me because of my thick-lenses glasses," causing her to be shy and insecure.
She was raised by her mother Eleanor and stepfather Robert Mauldin. She said when her stepfather became ill with heart disease, he made her mother promise to get her contacts so "I'd be more self-confident. He wanted to see me graduate, but he didn't make it," she said.
After high school, she attended Youngstown State University for a couple of years and also studied at Choffin Career Center. Trained as a medical assistant, she worked 14 years in the office of Dr. William R. Johnson. But as her eyesight worsened, she began to feel uncomfortable with the responsibilities of her job, which included reading charts and drawing blood. Afraid she might make a mistake, she quit the doctor's office.
Society for the Blind
Depressed and not knowing what to do, at the urging of a girlfriend, she went to the Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired, a part of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission, for help.
She met with a visually impaired counselor. "He understood," and Braziel said he advised her to contact the Youngstown Society for the Blind or Goodwill about possible work. She went to the Society for the Blind in 1986 and worked there until March 1992, when it closed.
Goodwill, a Youngstown/Mahoning Valley United Way agency, took over the Society's contracts operation and moved it over one weekend to its Belmont Avenue facility.
Goodwill went out of its way to help the visually impaired. The employees did not miss a day of work, and some of the contractors were good enough to follow, Braziel said.
At the Society for the Blind, she had begun by packaging mail box flag kits, a contract Goodwill still has. After a few years on different jobs, her supervisor convinced her to become a quality-control person.
"I was reluctant," Braziel said. "I knew my co-workers so well. I didn't think they would take me seriously."
It worked out for her because of the way she handles the job.
"The way I feel, I approach people the same way I'd want to be approached," she said.
"Otho always respects the dignity of others," said Melissa Pearce, Goodwill marketing manager. "I think that is why she is so effective."
Lead worker
Eventually she became a lead worker, assisting the supervisor by helping keep employees on track and supplying components for the jobs, a position she held when Goodwill took over the program. As such, she helped train three supervisors who ended up leaving. She was promoted to assistant supervisor, and about six years ago, the boss wanted to promote her to supervisor.
"I didn't think I could handle it, but when I became supervisor, all the employees seemed glad," she said.
As supervisor, she arranges contracts with businesses, orders materials, and does related paperwork. She is helped by a talking computer and a monitor that enlarges printed matter.
"I never thought I'd be in the position I'm in now and be able to hold it," she said. "I'm honored to be a supervisor."
And Goodwill is glad to have her, said Al Slabe, Goodwill operations director.
"I wish I had more like her," he said. "She is always professional and helpful. She really excels at training people and treating them fairly."
alcorn@vindy.com