[Gentle music playing in the background] NIB logo appears followed by a montage of a person who is blind getting ready for the day and Sean Dobbs speaking.
Male Speaker 1, Shawn Dobbs, Director of Public Relations and Development, The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc: NIB is crucial to the lives of people who are blind because NIB helps to create an incredible amount of employment opportunities.
Kevin Lynch speaking mixed with images of people who are blind working.
Male Speaker 2, Kevin Lynch, President and CEO, National Industries for the Blind: NIB's work is extremely important in terms of making sure that we identify appropriate and suitable opportunities for individuals. Not only for jobs, but also to create career paths for them.
Cut to shot of Mary Jane speaking mixed with period photos of advocates for people who are blind as well as people who are blind working in factories that transitions to modern day footage of employees who are blind at work.
Female Speaker 1, Mary Jane Surrago, Assistant Secretary for the Board of Directors, National Industries for the Blind: Now the mission has been pretty much the same since 1938 when NIB was formed. There were three men back at that time, two of whom were blind, who had the vision that they could create a large steady government market for products made by people who are blind. Thus, National Industries for the Blind or NIB, was incorporated on August 10th, 1938. Our founders felt that every American should have the opportunity for training and employment and I've seen that come back tenfold in the years that I've been involved. I'm so proud of that.
SKILCRAFT logo and period photos of early manufacturing and SKILCRAFT products cuts to Jim Kerlin talking and modern day SKILCRAFT production.
Male Speaker 3, Jim Kerlin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Beyond Vision: The program began way back when in 1938 and back then we were making brooms and mops and things like that. Today, everything's changed, now we're making very highly automated processes, much more technical products.
Cut to Ken Fernald Speaking followed by a montage of employees who are blind in office settings and manufacturing floors.
Male Speaker 4, Ken Fernald, President and Chief Executive Officer, Association for Vision Rehabilitation and Employment, Inc: It's changed in this course of 80 years from what's known as just straight manufacturing or kitting types of opportunities. To have a leadership training that takes individuals who are blind into professional and leadership positions and apply those techniques at a professional level and build careers. I may be a very good example of that starting in a part-time direct labor position and then working my way up through different levels of responsibility to current position of CEO.
[Change to upbeat music] Cut to Shawn Dobbs speaking
Shawn Dobbs: Just the variety of opportunities for jobs has expanded and a lot of that's due to technology.
Montage of people who are blind at work in call centers and on computer.
Female Speaker 2, Lee Nasehi, President and CEO, VisionServe Alliance: Today, you can't get a job that doesn't involve some type of technology and that's good news for us because our employees are getting the training they need in technology. There's nothing a person can't do, as long as they have right training in technology.
Montage of people who are blind in training classes.
Cut to Keith in the BSC.
Male Speaker 5, Keith Tyson, Base Supply Center Retail Associate, Blind Industries and Services of Maryland: I can do everything that a person with sight can do. There's no limit to the ability that we have. We're unstoppable, just like the military.
Cut to Anastasia talking and b-roll of people who are blind manufacturing glasses and mattresses.
Female Speaker 3, Anastasia Powell, Program Associate, A brighter Path Foundation: Every day that they sit at the sewing machine, they're giving back to a soldier. Every day that they build a mattress, they know a soldier's having a good night sleep. Every day that they put together a pair of eye glasses, they know that they're helping a veteran see life a little bit clearer.
Jim Kerlin speaking followed by montage of people who are blind in different work environments.
Jim Kerlin: Who knows what the future looks like. I mean, perhaps we can actually make a difference, a real difference in the 70% unemployment rate of people who are build. Could it be 30%, could be 2%? Let's dream big.
Construction montage of new NIB headquarters.
Kevin Lynch: Well, we're very excited about this. This facility is going to expand our ability to take on some of the new innovative jobs that we are all about. This actual floor will eventually be our conference center and training center. We are gonna be able to have some of the newest, most modern accessible technology available. And also, for training the individuals on how to use that.
Chris Downey talking.
Male Speaker 6, Chris Downey, Architect, Architect for the Blind: There's a number of things that are happening here that are really sort of tailored to the blind experience that works well for everybody.
[Music change to mid-tempo] NIB staff at construction site transition to the completed headquarters building followed by montage of people who are blind.
Kevin Lynch: The future would be that everyone who has a vision problem, has an opportunity to become what he or she wants to be and wants to do. So that happens, we feel we have a very important role to continue to provide the services, the assistance and the voice of what individuals who are blind can do.
Video ends with a shot of the completed NIB headquarters and NIB logo.