{Editors Note: The events of 9/11 resonated for everyone across America. The following post is from Ray Campbell, ACB Board Member from Glen Ellyn, Illinois, reminding us that while our country was transfixed to the images on the television screen, emotions still ran equally deep for all those who experienced the events unfolding in a different way.}
September 11, 2001 started out as every work day had started for me.
I got up; had breakfast; and, with white cane in hand, hopped on Paratransit
and headed off to work in my office in Naperville,
Illinois at Lucent Technologies . I always left for work around 7 a.m. each day so I had time to
get things done before the numerous meetings, phone calls and other
interruptions of office life would begin. Thus, I always left for work before
My wife Karyn would awake.
Karyn and I always talked by phone after she got up. September 11 was no
different. After our conversation, I settled in to check my email and get
on with my work day. Karyn soon called back and told me to turn on my office radio because one of our
local news stations was taking feed from CBS News in New York, but she
didn’t know why. I turned on the radio just after the first plane had hit
the World Trade Center in New York city. I remember thinking, oh my gosh,
what a terrible accident this was. We talked for a couple minutes before I
hung up.
Work… That was soon going to be impossible to undertake, for I was glued to the
radio. When the second plane hit the World Trade Center, I realized this was no
accident.
I remember feeling surprised, horrified and angry. After all, these things
don’t happen in the United states, these kinds of attacks are reserved for
places like the Middle East, until that day. Whomever was responsible
needed to be severely dealt with. Talking with my colleagues, we became
concerned. Lucent was a major telecommunications company, and were we a
potential target? As a person who is blind, I don’t think I’ve ever felt
more vulnerable as I did at that moment.
My boss finally said we could go home if we wanted. Now what for me? I
needed a ride home. One of my colleagues graciously agreed to drive me
home. I called our local YMCA as I knew Karyn had gone there to work out,
so I could tell her I was going home. They couldn’t find her. This only
added to my anxiety.
After getting home, I glued myself to the radio, listening to news coverage.
I called my Mom to let her know I was OK, and she described in vivid detail
how the first tower collapsed, like a huge pancake. I called and talked to
my Mother-in-law, and she told me how my Sister-in-law had called her crying
and wondering, what kind of a world are my kids going to grow up in.
One of the most vivid descriptions of what it was like in New York came from
Carol Marin who had been a prominent reporter in Chicago and was at the time
working in New York. She described in vivid detail the dust and debris
falling all around her as she ran a long way to get to safety. The shaking
in her voice is something I will never forget.
September 11, 2001 is a day that we all should never forget. While we who
are blind may experience events like that differently, we’re just like
everyone else with the same fears, anxiety and other feelings.
ACB Voices 