Private Screening of The Greatest Equalizer
Imagine this crisis scenario in Bucks County:
- 70% of residents are unemployed.
- 70% of the Bucks County area high school students do not graduate.
- 85% of the students that go on to college drop out.
Thankfully that is not the case here in Bucks County, but if it was, would you want to know the causes of that crisis and find solutions?
My name is Kristin Smedley. I am quite blessed to live, work and raise a family here in Bucks County. While those statistics are NOT real inour community, they are very real in the blind community. The crisis is real for those living with vision loss and my fear of those numbers fueled me to fix them.
You see, 23 years ago, I met blind people for the first time. They happened to be my two sons, Michael and Mitchell. Both were diagnosed as blind shortly after they were born. Although I was full of fear back then, today I am proudly cheering on all three of my children. My blind sons and sighted daughter, Karissa, have enjoyed great success at Council Rock schools and sports associations, Penn State, Kutztown University, and now, my oldest son is working in his dream career at Disney! Bucks County is the foundation on which all of my children thrive.
As you can see from the statistics though, not many families impacted by blindness have the kind of success we have enjoyed. That lack of success matters to all of us because it is causing a huge impact on our economy. According to Retina International's 2021 study, the cost of blindness to American taxpayers is $31.7 Billion!
To crush the crisis, I have created the short film, "The Greatest Equalizer", in partnership with Salesforce, Insight Global, and Blind Institute of Technology to share the solutions and reveal the benefits to individuals, companies and organizations that get involved in hiring blind workers. People that are unfamiliar with the benefits of hiring people that are blind are blown away by this short but mighty film and have been inspired to join this mission.
It is my hope that you will be too!
Please join me and many Bucks County area business and community leaders, educators, elected officials, and philanthropic citizens at this event that will surely be one of your most eye-opening evenings of the year:
Wednesday April 19, 2023 • 6:30 PM
The Newtown Theater
120 N. State Street, Newtown PA
www.ThrivingBlindAcademy.org/film