00:00:00VANSTONE: Hello, my name is Catherine Vanstone and I'm going to have a
conversation with Cornelius Butler for Our Stories, Our Lives: An Oral History
Project with the Georgia Libraries for Accessible Statewide Services. It is
December 7, 2018 and this is being recorded at the Decatur County Gilbert H.
Gragg Library, in Bainbridge, Georgia.
So, Cornelius, when did you--when did your experiences with disabilities start?
BUTLER: Actually, I was born with retinitis pigmentosa. I've been disabled all
my life. Fortunately, it's a disease that anybody who has it knows what the
outcome is going to be and normally the vast majority of people who have it end
up going totally blind.
VANSTONE: So you've--it's what you've always known?
BUTLER: Oh, yes. It's inevitable.
VANSTONE: So tell me about growing up.
BUTLER: OK. I'm from--initially, I was born in Dawsonville, Georgia, but I live
00:01:00in Bainbridge, Georgia. Throughout my life I used the Talking Book service,
which is GLASS, to provide me with information on--actually provided me with a
method to stay up to date on books and what's going on in the world, because
basically, I am fully print-disabled. I do not even use pretty much--going
throughout my school career, I pretty much used large print books, but over the
years my vision has basically waned to an extent and I've had to rely a lot now
like on audio or basically voiceover content, such as like when it comes to like
using things like Bookshare, using things like audiobooks, when it comes to my
cellphone, my tablet, and things like that.
But going back to that--going through elementary, middle schools, and all that,
00:02:00I basically faced a lot of the discrimination that someone who has a visual
disability often faces: I was called "retard." I was put down a lot when it came
to--basically because I was different. So I actually had to face a lot of
animosity, and I actually rose through it by just basically having a really
strong support system when it came to my vision teachers, when it came to my
mom, because basically I was raised--my dad actually died when I was 5 years
old. So basically, essentially you can say I grew up with a single mom,
essentially, me and my brother. And I'm actually the one that has a disability;
he does not have one. He actually is fully--fully 20/20 vision. I'm actually the
one that actually has the RP, but basically, I've had a strong support system
that's basically been there with me because I know without them it would have
been even rougher and I wouldn't even be where I am today.
00:03:00
VANSTONE: And where are you today?
BUTLER: I actually run my own web development and internet marketing company. I
also focus heavily on developing websites that are accessible to people with
disabilities. It's been my vision to do this, and one of the reasons I do this
is because of what I actually have had to endure. And not being able to use
regular print, I didn't want people to have to go through some of the same
things that I have had to go through. So I basically started a company whose
mission is to create a more accessible world.
VANSTONE: That's amazing.
What were some of the hardest challenges you faced and how did you get through them?
BUTLER: Ooh, some of the biggest challenges. So many. (laughing)
Some of the biggest challenges I faced is basically when I was younger I had a
lot of self-esteem issues, because I was--when someone is--when people are
00:04:00constantly beating you down and telling you what you won't amount to anything
and basically calling out your name because you actually have a disability,
because you have a visual disability, it can get to you over time.
So it was rough. I ain't gonna lie to you. It actually was rough, but basically,
I'm a very faith-based person and I am a very focused person. And there have
been times when I've basically felt like giving up, but I've chosen not to. I've
actually persevered. I've actually really pushed myself and I'm very happy with
where I've ended up.
VANSTONE: So where did you go to school?
BUTLER: I went to school at Bainbridge High School in Bainbridge, Georgia.
Basically, attended Decatur County school system. I was mainstreamed. I was not
actually--I had a vision teacher throughout my entire process from--all the way
00:05:00from K through 12. Basically, I stayed with various vision teachers, but
basically, I was not actually put in any specialized classes. I actually was
mainstream. I actually had regular courses.
Now, I did tote large-print books, which looked like--they were massive,
basically. Multi volumes. We got them from American Print House for the Blind
and what we (laughing) basically, you had to be very careful because sometimes
my books were like five, six copies, and sometimes if you got the wrong one for
the particular chapter that was going to be covered today, had to go all the way
down to the room and go get the correct one. So that's another reason why I'm
actually happy that there was like more audio-focused books with searchability
these days. I didn't have that back then. So I'm very happy.
VANSTONE: How did the vision teacher help you through your schooling and/or just
00:06:00life in general?
BUTLER: She was my rock, really. She was one of my rocks, because she was on the
ground there with me basically. A lot of times people don't realize. They feel
like your vision teacher's just basically her main job is to basically make sure
you have the tools that you need, you know, the books and stuff that you need,
but I was actually blessed to have vision teachers who I could basically turn to
that were able to counsel me. Basically, when I was actually having a bad day I
knew I could always go to them and actually talk to them and tell them about
what I was going through and they would actually be there for me. So basically,
you could say they're like--they were like a second mom to me. So they--I can
actually owe a lot of my academic achievement to them being there. And I
actually had about, let's see, at least two throughout my career here. Yeah,
Sherri Rye and (indistinct) Ajack were the two I dealt with heavily.
VANSTONE: Do you still stay in contact with them or have you seen them?
00:07:00
BUTLER: I lost contact with Ms. Rye because she moved back--she moved away. She
moved to Michigan. I do stay in contact some with Mrs. Ajack, yes.
VANSTONE: Outside of work, what are some of the activities you like to do?
BUTLER: Well, actually I'm a hardcore techie. I'm actually really geeky, so one
of the things I love to do in my spare--one of the things I have to do as part
of my work is I actually do coding, quite a bit of it. And for fun I like to go
to the beach. My favorite beach, unfortunately, doesn't exist anymore right now.
Well, it doesn't exist like it used to. Like we used to go to Panama City Beach
and Mexico Beach, and our area, you know, got hit by Hurricane Michael. We were
really devastated, and we're all in the recovery process right now. Hope to
return there again someday, but I'm giving it time to recover. But spare time is
basically, most people find me to be boring in my spare time, because I like to
read. I like to listen to audiobooks. Not really that exciting. I'll go listen
00:08:00to an audiobook on the beach. That's pretty much my idea of fun. And I'm a news
buff, so I watch a lot of your traditional news stations. And I'm loving--I
recently got my first smart speakers, so I'm loving them. I've got both of them.
I've got--I call her Madam A because I know people who hear this are going to
basically--I don't want to trigger her. (laughing) And I also have the Google
Home. So I'm actually really discovering a whole new way to listen to audiobooks.
VANSTONE: You talked about your support system growing up. Do they play just as
important role today?
BUTLER: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm very family-oriented and I'm very close with my mom.
Basically, as she's been there with me through thick and thin and yeah, my
support system is still--whenever I'm having a bad day, they're the people I can
00:09:00go to and complain to and they'll just sit there and listen to me. They always
have encouraging words to say and I'm proud of them and I know they're proud of
me and it's worked out pretty well. (laughing)
VANSTONE: And you mention your family in that they're--is the family the
close-knit part of your support group or does it extend outward?
BUTLER: Oh no, it extends farther outward. I basically have a very close-knit
group of friends. Someone who I dated for basically more than ten years, she's
always going to be a fundamental part of my life and she's very close to me
right now, even today there's someone who--basically I can always say I can
count on no matter what (laughing) basically. But I do have a very large network
of people around me.
VANSTONE: Has there been anything that's surprised you over the years? I mean,
you've talked about some of the hardships, but any things that are positive or
00:10:00anything that sort of surprised you throughout life?
BUTLER: Something--one thing that actually has surprised me is that basically no
matter how much negativity that you encounter in life, there's always going to
be a group of people that want to see you succeed. It may not be a large group
at times. It may be just like a small group of people that's always--don't
basically give up on humanity. There's always going to be a group of people that
want to see you do better. There's always going to be a group of people that's
going to push you. I've been blessed to meet some of those people throughout my
life. I've met the negativity too, (laughing) unfortunately, but I must say that
basically the positive people that I've met, they're still a part of my life and
I continue to meet positive people. I'm all about positivity. That's what I
really am about. Basically, I really want to live a positive life.
VANSTONE: Just to go back to the coding, I'm sort of jumping around here.
BUTLER: Oh, no problem.
VANSTONE: Where did you learn to code?
00:11:00
BUTLER: Actually self-taught. And (laughing) actually self-taught. I have some
education in it at our local college, but primarily self-taught, because see, we
--you can actually say I graduated from a ghost college, because my college does
not exist anymore. The facilities are still there, but the college I actually
went to was Bainbridge State College. It does not exist anymore. We're now
Southern Regional Technical College and we were starting to get some of those
coding-related classes like Visual Basic back then, but basically some of the
things I know we didn't teach here. So I basically just self-taught. Trial and
error. Yup. So basically, yeah.
VANSTONE: Do you think the technology opening doors for you and--did that help
develop a love in wanting to learn how to code?
00:12:00
BUTLER: Oh, yes. I'd say the technology industry basically in our society--well,
actually in any society is a great equalizer. Some of the things that you can
actually do with technology, you pretty much can write your own future
essentially. Code allows you to literally basically create something from
scratch that did not exist. And I'm loving where things are headed with
artificial intelligence. I'm actually teaching myself some--basically how to do
AI-related projects and I'm basically going to be using that as a jump board to
be able to make more money over time. Because basically, I really do think--and
especially in our community, the disability community and the blindness
community, I really feel that basically AI is going to be able to play a major
role in lifting up people who basically have visual disabilities. And the reason
being is, for example, let's say that you actually have--one of the things I'm
actually experimenting with is basically technology that's going to
automatically describe images for people who are blind who use--who visit
00:13:00websites that are based off of the WordPress platform. Which you know WordPress
is the largest web development platform on the planet right now basically, but a
major issue with the internet is basically lack of accessible sites. So with
WordPress being a significant chunk of the web, we're going to take advantage of
the fact that it has a very powerful API where you can build on top of it, which
is application program interface, you can literally basically build a system
that's going to be able to auto-describe images, similar to what Facebook does
with its auto-tagging. And what it's going to allow you to do is basically
automatically describe these images so someone who's blind is going to actually
be able to know that that is a vehicle, that's a red car, with a person sitting
in it on the corner. They would be able to actually know that. And see, that's
going to basically do a lot to really make things equal.
VANSTONE: Technology--we've talked about how--technology's role as an adult and
00:14:00Talking Books as a kid. Was there any technology that stands out, outside of
Talking Books, when you were a kid that made your life--made a world of difference?
BUTLER: Oh, yeah. One of the things that--while I was actually in school,
basically when I was there, they actually bought me--it was called a Talking
Language Master. It actually helped me do a lot of my work when it came to my
English-related work when we had to do like definition work, we had to do
English related look-up work. It's actually a full-scale system that they
actually bought for me. The school system bought it for me, and I still actually
have it today. It played a pivotal role. And I also used some other AT when it
came to doing--being able to do my work. I actually had a CCTV where I could
basically put my books under it and it basically would auto-enlarge it. So I
could basically easily read. I actually had that in elementary, middle, and high
school actually. I had access to one.
00:15:00
VANSTONE: So which elementary school did you go to?
BUTLER: Elcan-King Elementary.
VANSTONE: And then middle school?
BUTLER: It was Hutto Middle.
VANSTONE: Hutto.
BUTLER: Sorry, I'm jumping around a lot. Oh, bless you.
VANSTONE: Are there any other stories, you want to share anything special?
BUTLER: Not off the top of my head.
VANSTONE: We've covered a lot.
BUTLER: Yes.
VANSTONE: You shared a lot. So well, I want to thank you for coming in today and
sharing your stories and what growing up here in Bainbridge was like visually
impaired and the way technology is taking you in the future.
BUTLER: Thank you.
VANSTONE: Thank you, Cornelius.