Your Iconic Image : Tower One. 78th Floor. Sept 11‪.‬ Your Iconic Image

Michael (Mike) Hingson. I am president of The Michael Hingson Group, Inc. and the chief vision officer for accessiBe
Blind since birth, Michael Hingson was born to sighted parents who raised him with a can-do attitude. Always a high achiever, Michael learned how to ride a bike, and was able to do advanced math in his head! He received a Master’s Degree in Physics, and a Secondary Teaching Credential. 
Michael worked for high-tech companies in management until September 11, 2001 when he and his guide dog Roselle escaped from the 78th floor of Tower One in the WTC. Thrust into the international limelight, Michael began to share lessons of trust, courage, and teamwork based on this experience. 
Mike is the author of the #1 NY Times Bestseller “Thunder dog,” selling over 2.5 million copies, and his 2nd book “Running with Roselle, A story for Our Youth.” 
An international public speaker, Mike delivers inspiring and thought-provoking messages to the world’s elite, including President George W. Bush, and has appeared on hundreds of TV and Radio programs, including Larry King. Hired by major organizations, Michael speaks on perseverance, the importance of trust and teamwork, and moving from diversity to inclusion. 
www.michaelhingson.com
www.marlanasemenza.com
Audio : Ariza Music Productions
Transcription : Vision In Word
Marlana:


Blind since birth, Michael Hingson is a high achiever whose parents raised him with a can-do attitude. He worked for high-tech companies and management until September 11th, 2001, when he and his guide dog Roselle escaped from the 78th floor of Tower one of the World Trade Center thrust into the international limelight, Michael began to share lessons of trust, courage, and teamwork based on his experience. Welcome Michael.


Michael:


Thank you. Good to be here.


Marlana:


So, I know that the events of 9/11 were a little bit ago. However, I know that any one of us that is old enough to remember them, they will be forever etched in our memory. So, walk us through a little bit of what it was like from your perspective.


Michael:


It's really interesting the way you phrased that because one of the things that we have experienced for me is that, as you say, we all remember it. And over the past 10 years especially, I've realized that we now have a whole generation of children now going into young adults who have no personal knowledge of September 11th at all. So, I think that it is absolutely important that we remember it. We still remember Pearl Harbor and rightly so. Some of us remember when JFK was shot, and all the things around that. I think it's important that we remember September 11th because there were a lot of lessons to be taken from that. Again, actually since September 11th, people have asked me if I will come and talk about September 11th, my experience and the lessons that we should learn.


I hope that continues cuz I'm glad to travel and speak and be keynote speakers and all that stuff. So anyway, for me, it was a day of validation because as a person who happens to be blind, the typical response for me and for other blind people who try to get a job is, well, you're blind. How could you do this job? Or you're blind, how could you get to work? I could go to a job interview and clearly get there on my own. And somebody says, well how you gonna get to work? Well, I got here, didn't I? Right. And you said you were interested in my resume. My resume demonstrates that I constantly overachieved goals and so on. What's the issue? The problem is we haven't taught people that blindness isn't the problem. It's our attitudes about blindness. 


And the reason I say that is because in reality I was very fortunate in one way because what I was fortunate to be able to do is to get a job out of college and went from one job to another. At one point when I couldn't get a job, when a company was acquired by Xerox and phased all of us out, I had to start my ow