Shawn Dobbs embraces blindness, Spokane and life

Shawn Dobbs was the student council president and valedictorian of his class at the Indiana School for the Blind.

But it was on the wrestling mat that he learned that he could compete in the broader world.

In high school, Dobbs participated in many sports, but wrestling was the only one in which his school competed against local high schools with students who weren’t blind.

“I wanted to measure and see where I stood in the grand scheme of things,” he said. “It was important for me to have a good understanding of the reality that just because I’m blind it doesn’t mean I can’t be successful.”

Dobbs, 43, is the development and public relations director of the Inland Northwest Lighthouse, which manufactures and assembles products for the government and military. More than 85 percent of the nonprofit’s manufacturing workforce is blind. The Spokane operation opened in 2008 in a former Tidyman’s grocery and is part of the Lighthouse for the Blind, a nonprofit based in Seattle.

In his job at the Lighthouse and other places where issues affecting blind people come up, Dobbs is quick to note that 70 percent of blind people are unemployed.

It’s a harsh statistic that Dobbs knew back when he was wrestling.

It’s one reason why when he graduated from the School for the Blind to attend the University of Evansville, he decided to surround himself with those who weren’t blind.

“I just wanted to be a normal kid and figure out socially how to integrate with people who could see,” he said.

He joined a fraternity, something he credits with helping with the adjustment to college. While other students struggled with homesickness, Dobbs was used to being away from his family. He had lived at the School for the Blind since he was 5, only going to his home about 50 miles away on weekends.

But Dobbs struggled with other adjustments to college.

He tried at first not to use his cane.

“I didn’t necessarily like carrying it because I felt like people were staring at me,” he said.

One day, he walked into a pole. He missed a class on another.

“I couldn’t find it. I just couldn’t bring myself to ask for help,” Dobbs said. “Finally, this girl was like, ‘Can I help you.’ And I was like, ‘I guess, because I’m tired of walking around.’ ”

Not long after, he started using his cane.

“I had to learn to be OK with the fact that I was blind. I didn’t know that was something I had to work on, but college helped me deal with that a lot,” he said. “You reach a point, maybe a low point, but that’s when you have your greatest opportunity because it’s how you respond to either perceived or real adversity that’s important.”

Dobbs went on to earn a master’s degree from Indiana University in social work. He worked as a counselor for people dealing with renal failure and later went back to the Indiana School for the Blind, where he was a counselor and coached track and field.

He worked at the Church Federation for Greater Indianapolis, where he helped create a program to help people emerge from poverty and at Bosma Enterprises, a nonprofit that assists people who are blind, where he was a counselor and had other duties.

With his church, he went on many adventures. He went to a yoga retreat in Costa Rica. He helped homeless people in Los Angeles and Toronto and worked with orphans in Tijuana.

And he climbed Mount Marcy, the tallest peak in New York.

It was cold and he struggled to keep up with his group, of which he was the only blind member. He had a guide, but at one point, Dobbs fell through some ice.

“I finally made it to the top,” he said. “I’ve accomplished a lot, but that was one of the prouder moments because I really wanted not to finish. But I stuck it out.”

The experiences with his church made him consider moving on in his career.

“I had gone as far as I could go,” Dobbs said. “It’s time for me to press on to what’s next.”

He got the job at the Lighhouse in 2012 and moved to Spokane with his cat, Farrah.

“I knew nothing about the town outside the fact that Gonzaga was here, and I only knew that from watching March Madness,” he said.

(Dobbs is fine with using using verbs in relation to blind people that refer to vision, as in “He saw the game,” when they mean “went to” or “experienced.”)

The Spokane position attracted him because it allowed him to take on new tasks like government relations. He didn’t know anyone in Spokane.

So he began to explore, heading downtown sometimes just to “figure out where things are.”

“I would just go places,” Dobbs said. “By going to a lot of the same places, you begin to meet people.”

Dobbs joined The Porch, a church in the West Central neighborhood. He currently leads the church’s monthly “beer and theology class” at the Elk in Browne’s Addition.

He’s also the president of the Northeast Spokane Kiwanis Club. At a recent breakfast meeting at the downtown Perkins, with an agenda he typed in Braille at his side, he kept the chatty group of about 15 on task with his conversational, usually lighthearted tone.

He finally sat down to eat his breakfast after the group’s business was done and the other members had eaten their last bite.

“He brings so much understanding and humor,” said Gary Jespersen, a club member.

Dobbs has many more goals.

He’d like to skydive, brew beer and learn to be a better cook. He wants to finish a triathlon (he’s already completed a half marathon).

Dobbs accomplished one of his longtime goals late last month: stand-up comedy.

He performed at an open mic night at the Gathering House in the Garland Business District.

“I really went with blindness, not to be self-deprecating, but to educate people, and also be funny,” he said. “My goal was just to get people a lot more comfortable with it.”

He said it went well and he plans to try again with another routine this Saturday.

“I always believe risk is a good thing as long as it’s an educated risk,” Dobbs said. “Sometimes it’s important to be bold and take a chance.”