How a Blind Black Entrepreneur Thinks About Race
Kamille Richardson on the impossibility of "seeing with your heart"
In Kamille Richardson's early post-college days looking for a job, she had one experience on repeat: she'd send in her resume, get called in for an interview, and witness the employer’s interest collapse the moment they saw she was blind. BAM—it was over. The temperature in the room, she says, “dropped 20 degrees.” And it wasn’t just her—disabled folks often experience the working world as a series of absurd obstacles. After serving as a tech coach for the newly blind, Richardson envisioned a larger opportunity to help. She and her sister Lakila Bowden founded iSee Technologies, a consultancy that helps companies become more inclusive of those with disabilities, and without. Here we chat about Zoom parity, first impressions, and busting through planters in a hotel lobby.
I’m curious about your family of origin— what role did they play in your story?
I come from a very loving, nurturing family. I was about six months old when they found out I was blind. My mom said, "I was sad for a minute. But then I realized that you're going to have to learn how to live this life, so I have to teach you how to live."
She did just that—she let me explore. She didn't treat me like I was made out of glass. She saw that I'm not going to know how to drink out of a straw because I can't see it, so she taught me how. She let me go outside and play. I climbed trees with my sister. I got dirty. I did all the typical child things. She had me ordering my own food at restaurants—she taught me how to use my voice from a very early age.
And she challenged me to step outside my comfort zone. She even insisted I join the track team when I was in high school. I mean, the track team. I was not an athlete by any stretch of the imagination.
The track team? My jaw just dropped. Please tell me more.
I did not want to do it, trust me. But she was like, "I already talked to the coach." I was like, "You talked to who? And I'm going to do what? This is so totally outside of my wheelhouse."
She wanted to show me that I could do hard things. It was hard. But I showed myself and the world that I can do things that seemed a bit out of the ordinary for me.
Just a practical question: what is it like to run fast when you cannot see what is in front of you? That sounds terrifying.
Well, consider I've been blind my whole life. That's just what I know. It wasn't the fact that I couldn't see what was in front of me that was terrifying—it was the fact that I was not in shape. Fourteen years old and had never run a day in my life, unless someone was chasing me.
You and your sister call her your "seeing eye person." Were you two always close?
Yes. We are 10½ months apart. She taught me how to be social, interact with other kids. Watching TV, my sister was my eyes—she would describe everything without me having to ask. I was born in the ‘80s, so audio books were very difficult to come by, especially unabridged. So she and my mom would read and record books so that I would be able to go back and listen to 'em.
How unique is your experience in terms of your family’s support, and how much independence they fostered in you?
A lot of my friends who were blind were very sheltered. The parents really didn't know how to treat them like they weren't made of glass. I was very blessed to be born in the family that I was born. I'm trying to phrase that as carefully as I can--there are people whose families were as supportive as mine, but I also know the extremes.
What misconceptions do sighted people often have about blind people?
The first big misconception is that we are all in the dark. And that is absolutely not true. Actually, only 10% of the population is in total darkness. I have what they call "light perception." I can see when the light is on and when the sun is out, and I can also see when it's dark outside. I always turn lights on in rooms because I don't like sitting in the dark.
Another misconception is—well—people approach us with a charitable lens. People always are wondering, "How can I help this blind person?" They immediately want to jump in and help the "poor blind person." What I do now, in my work, is shift that paradigm of thinking from a charitable lens to a lens of contribution. We are able to contribute. We are culture adds.
What do you see as the unique contributions of folks who are blind?
People who are blind—and people with disabilities in general—are masterful problem solvers.
We do this in our everyday life; we're always trying to figure out how to live in a world that wasn't built for us. If you have someone on your team who is blind or who has a disability, you're going to get a different way of thinking. We're always thinking about how to adapt, because we're always having to adapt on the fly.
The first thing I heard was, "That's not the entrance! You're going the wrong way!" That's exactly what I wanted. I created my own way.
Any examples that come to mind from your life, of that problem solving?
Sure. I was at a conference in Houston, staying at a big old conference hotel. One morning I was like, "I'm hungry. I'm about to go down the stairs and get me something to eat."
I moseyed on down there, and I listened for my context clues. I heard the clinking of silverware on plates and people chatting. Okay, the restaurant is somewhere nearby. Now, I didn't know where the entrance is, but I was hungry. I wasn't going to wander forever. There were these huge planters in the middle of the floor, and there were spaces in between. And so I said, "I'm about to walk in between these planters. I know that the restaurant is there. It might not be the entrance, but somebody's going to see me and I'm going to get the results that I'm seeking."
So I walked right in between those planters, and the first thing I heard was, "That's not the entrance! You're going the wrong way!" That's exactly what I wanted. I created my own way. The manager saw me, took me to the entrance, and said, "Nobody's ever done that before." I said, "I was hungry, and I needed assistance. And I knew that if I did that, somebody would see me and offer to help me." That can go the same way with business. Sometimes you have to create your own way.
This makes me think about how much forming connections with others is part of how you navigate the world.
Building relationships gets me where I need to be. On the airplane, when somebody sits next to me, if they strike up a conversation, and if they're going to the baggage claim, I'm going to the baggage claim with them. Otherwise, I'm going to have to wait until somebody from the gate can come assist me, and they're on there cleaning off the plane, and I'm here feeling abandoned.
Networking looks a little different for me. I can't get up and work the room because obviously I'm not able to see the room. So I network where I am. I work the table that I'm sitting at. I build connections that way. When someone sits next to me, I will just ask them, "Hey, what company do you work with?" Then I find out how I can add value to whatever it is they're doing.
I remember when I met my friend Jasmine in college, it was the first time I'd had an in-depth conversation with someone who was blind. I remember this feeling wash over me, almost of relief. We were having this interaction that was really just about what we were sharing. A certain amount of self-consciousness fell away.
When I'm in the world, everybody is already looking at me and I can't see them. When I'm on Zoom—and I've just started doing this recently—I will tell people that I prefer to have my video off. At home, I want to keep it an even playing field. I want to be able to just relax and have the conversation, and the person's not seeing me either. We're just listening. You're getting the nuance of what I'm saying just by listening to my voice.
My intuition tells me, "I feel very comfortable around this person," or "This is somebody I might need to keep my guard up around a little bit—I don't know why yet, but I'll find out soon, I'm sure."
We're often told that people form their impression of us within seconds, partly based on how we look. As a blind person, what do you pay attention to—what makes that impression?
I can tell a lot about a person within the first few seconds of meeting them, just from reading how their energy feels to me, the vibe I get. I just make a note. I don't treat people differently, no matter what vibe I'm getting.
My intuition tells me, "I feel very comfortable around this person," or "This is somebody I might need to keep my guard up around a little bit—I don't know why yet, but I'll find out soon, I'm sure." I might not have been born with a gift of sight, but I do have that gift of intuition.
Is that feeling communicated through tone of voice, or style of talking?
Well, it has a bit to do with voice. It is on a very—I don't want to say molecular level, I don't know if that's the right word—but for me, it is the almost the aura around the person, the feeling I get around the person.
That's fascinating.
Someone might have the most pleasant tone of voice ever, but there's something in my intuition that's like, "Hm." Or they might have a pleasant tone, and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, your spirit is so friendly." It's never led me astray.
You’ve described how in your early days of job hunting, you'd go into a job interview, and you could feel the shift in energy as soon as you got there.
I would get called for an interview, and they would be like, "We're so excited! We'd love to have you in." And then I'd go in, and the temperature would drop about 20 degrees. Their whole demeanor would change when they realized I was blind. It was palpable. Their voice would change; the feeling in the room would change. It felt like the temperature literally dropped. Like, "Ooh, it got a little chilly in here."
Is this typical for folks with disabilities who are looking for jobs?
Yes. That story is not just my story. The unemployment rate in the blind community is at 70%. Let that marinate for a minute. It's not for lack of trying. A lot of us have higher degrees—master's, doctorates. People find out that someone has a disability and that temperature drop happens. I created iSee technologies because I knew that was not just my story. People have their own preconceived notions and biases about people with disabilities.
What are those assumptions?
People believe that disability is a liability. They believe that disability is expensive, that there's going to be a drop in productivity. And that's not true. There are different ways for us to do our jobs—technologies, equipment, screen readers and magnifiers. We just need the work environment to be equitable.
One of our clients, a consumer product company, had a summer internship, and were excited because they had three blind interns. So the interns show up, but the building wasn't physically accessible for them. It was like an obstacle course—boxes all over the place. The software was not accessible. It was a bad experience for the interns and an embarrassing experience for the company. We helped them so that the next interns are able to access their workplace.
How did you decide to start your company?
I started out teaching people who are blind how to use their iPhones and iPads, the screen reading software. I was working with people who had recently lost their sight, and so they were going into an unknown and terrifying world.
And they were trying to get back into the employment space. They were running into a lot of the same problems that I was running into. And it wasn't just them, it was my other blind peers as well. So that's when I was like, I need to use my voice to create a solution.
You've talked about the idea of a "triple blessing" of being Black, blind, and a woman. Can you talk more about that idea?
I get to see life through the unique lens of being a Black woman who is blind. I love being part of these three very distinct groups. Race and gender are very big talking points. Disability often gets left out. I'm a very proud Black woman, but I also find myself being that champion for disabilities because while there might be a few other Black women in the room, it's very rare that there's a Black blind woman in the room.
I'm so curious about those intersections. I'd love to hear how you think about race. The concept was invented based on people's appearances. Do you think about race differently because you are blind?
Although race was on the surface based on appearance, it became about creating systems that were put in place to oppress. So blind people are not immune from experiencing racism or being racist.
When I was growing up, I was very much aware of my Black skin. My parents taught me to be Black. They taught me to be proud of being Black, to love this melanin skin that I'm in. So that's part of my identity. Race is an experience. It is not just what you see.
Blind people literally cannot see color, but it doesn't mean that they figuratively don't think about race.
That's so interesting.
We're all on this earth living a human experience. We're blind, but we still have thoughts and feelings and prejudices and everything just like everybody else.
I think of racism as this entrenched disease in our culture that is reinforced because we're taught to look for differences and make assumptions. Do you think there is any advantage that blind people have in combating racism, because the visual piece is not immediately present?
I'll say, no, honestly, because like you said, it is entrenched. Race is experience. It's your culture. It is what you've been exposed to. There really is no advantage just because you're blind. And I don't like when people say that they "don't see color," because then you're blocking out somebody's whole identity.
When you meet someone, how do you determine what race they are?
There are oftentimes certain colloquialisms in the Black community that we use, a natural dialect that we fall into. Race and culture are a whole experience.
I can't speak for all blind people—I don't know how another blind person determines race, to be honest with you. I can just speak for me.
Please tell me if I'm asking anything that feels inappropriate.
No, it's not offensive. You just want to know.
When you and I are talking, do you have a sense of what race I am?
Ooh, that's an interesting question. The thing is, I already have a cheat code because of my sister! <Laughs.> I usually don’t go around asking what race someone is.
Right! If you didn't have the cheat code—say, you and I were just meeting. Do you feel like you would have a sense?
I probably would have a sense.
We're capable of forming opinions about people because we're human. We're going to have our prejudices. We're not immune from any of that.
What would give you that sense?
<Laughs.> This is an interesting question. Maybe your voice. I just feel energy. I don't know how to explain that—I've never really been asked that question before.
When it comes to meeting people in general, we don't "see with our hearts." People always say, "Oh my GOSH, you see with your heart!" No, we don't. We're capable of forming opinions about people because we're human. We're going to have our prejudices. We're not immune from any of that. People assume that when you meet someone, even in the dating world, that it doesn't matter what the person looks like because you see with your heart. Not true. You saw how I look. I need somebody to complement that!
You have such a great sense of style that I asked your sister who your stylist was!
Exactly. You see what I mean? So no, I do not see with my heart. I do ask people what somebody looks like. I mean, we're human beings as well. I'm not saying I'm shallow, but I also am saying I don't want somebody dressed they're going to go rake the yard where we're about to go to a gala. <Laughs.> We have human emotions like anyone else.
So—I'm White, maybe your sister told you that—I'm probably not giving anything away. <Laughs.>
Yes. <Laughs.>
White people are so terrified of being called racist that we often shrink away from the topic.
And truthfully, blind people can be racist. Racism does not know and does not care about your disability. It doesn't care. Trust me when I tell you that racism is still very much alive and well, even among the blind community.
That's so interesting. "Racism doesn't care about your disability."
You're not seeing color, but you are still immersed in your culture. You are still forming your conceptions. You still have your own mind. You can form opinions, you're a human with an opinion.
It connects to the point you were making earlier—that someone who has a disability isn't fundamentally different from other human beings. They're going to form the same kinds of impressions—liking people, disliking people, having biases. All of those are human experiences.
It is a very human experience. I want to dispel those biases around disability. That is the crux of the work that I do. How can we change those minds and hearts so that everybody has an equitable workspace? Rejection stems from conscious and unconscious bias.
Absolutely. Another helpful mindset shift is that it’s just a more interesting life to interact with people who are different than ourselves.
Amen to that. I agree a hundred percent.
Wouldn't it be incredible if someone encountering a person with a disability immediately thought, "What extra thing does this person bring?"
It would be wonderful, in a perfect world. But we know this world ain't perfect.
But this conversation, Kamille, is making me think about consciously bringing that thought in the future. If I encounter someone with a disability, the first thing I want to think is, "What unique addition are they bringing?"
Look at me changing your future attitude.
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I am very interested in racism and now reading caste by Wilkerson. Becoming more aware of unconscious bias since reading Nordell’s recent book. Thank you for this interview