Our Report to the Community
FY2008

Expanding Employment Opportunities

President and CEO Kirk Adams

Seven out of ten blind adults are not working, despite their talent, their motivation, and desire to work. There’s a real lack of opportunity in the job market for people who are blind.

We have had fifty plus years to build an expertise around manufacturing and to use the most modern, cutting-edge manufacturing equipment. We’ve learned how to adapt all of that equipment so that blind and Deaf-Blind people can operate them.

We have all the kinds of jobs that any manufacturer of our size would have. We have an IT department, accounting, sales, marketing, customer service; and we have blind people in all those types of jobs. We have over 100 workstations in our Seattle facility that have been adapted for use by blind computer users.

Hundreds and hundreds of blind people in this community have had a vastly different experience than most blind people do. They’ve been able to come to a place where their needs are understood, where the supports are put into place, where there’s a commitment to specialized training and specialized technology designed for blind people.

We exist to create opportunities for blind people to live independently, to be self-sufficient, and to be fully participating citizens. We seek community support for the mission-related experiences that other manufacturers don’t bear.

We have the expertise, we have the technology, but we don’t have the funds. Our donors give us the resources we need to change people’s lives.

Kirk Adams
President and CEO
The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc.

Each year, our top priority focuses on creating more quality jobs for people with visual disabilities. We are committed to expanding jobs, upward mobility, and promoting more choices for blind and Deaf-Blind people in our community and beyond.

In 2008, we broke the 200 mark of people with visual disabilities employed at The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. We added 31 jobs altogether at our Seattle Lighthouse and Inland Northwest Lighthouse facilities for a total of 216 employees who are blind, Deaf-Blind, and blind with other disabilities.

Today, blind and Deaf-Blind individuals work in jobs at every level of the organization including manufacturing, machining, information technology (IT), accounting, communications, human resources (HR), marketing, administration, teaching, management, and executive team. We will continue to strive to grow jobs steadily in the years ahead throughout the Lighthouse.

Sighted Employees: 164
Blind Employees: 151
Deaf-Blind Employees: 34
Blind of Deaf-Blind Employees with developmental disabilities: 31