In the blind community, there is a 70 percent unemployment rate. Dr. J. Webster Smith, an associate professor of communications who has been blind since birth, considers himself blessed to be employed and has devoted his life to giving back to others.
“I’m committed to helping people help themselves,” said Smith, who is president of the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio. “I want to inspire (others) to do good and be better. I think I was put here to do that.”
Smith, along with the help of local musicians Donny Boggs, Wayward Ridge Band and Double Shot, will present the Third Annual Sunday with Dr. FeelGood and Friends May 22 at the Athens Community Center.
The event is a benefit concert for the NFB of Ohio. Earnings from Dr. FeelGood and Friends will help finance trips to this year’s NFB conference in Orlando, Fla.
“When I attended my first national conference in 1992, it was eye opening, no pun intended. When you are not around blind people, you forget there are all varieties of people who just happen to be blind,” Smith said. “For me, joining the organization felt like coming home.”
In past years the federation sponsored trips to the national conference for some of its members. However, the amount NFB of Ohio receives each year plummeted from about $500,000 to $30,000 when one corporate sponsor slashed funding in the summer of 2009.
Without financial assistance, many who are living on small salaries would not have the opportunity, Smith said.
The event idea stemmed from Smith’s side career as Dr. FeelGood. He has produced three gospel CDs and is in the process of completing another album. Smith is also a preacher.
“All of them are about communicating,” he said. “After you come to performances or speeches, if you can leave there feeling better about yourself … man, I’ve done my job.”
Smith utilizes all avenues to spread his message of being positive, maximizing potential and working to help others.
Smith’s general purpose biography says, “he firmly believes that our differences can be our strengths and that many people live more for affirmation than bread and that we are each responsible to all for all.”
Smith’s message affects his students. He teaches classes ranging from Communications 110 to Black Communication Styles to a class he created himself, Communications with People with Physical Disabilities.
He has also written two books for his classes and is working on a third — an autobiography.
“When I think of Dr. Smith, I think that my family knows who he is,” said Ashley Laber, a senior studying organizational communication, who has had three classes with him. “He is just one of those professors that I talk about.”
Many of Smith’s students have immense respect for him, but his laid-back and trusting teaching style, laced with practical advice based off of his life experiences, sets him apart, she said.
“Maximize every opportunity in the most positive way you can, and then do all you can to help others maximize their opportunities, too,” Smith said. “If you can do that — wow, what a combination.”
jc543108@ohiou.edu
@ThePostCulture
