QUE PASA
Newsletter of the National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico
May 2021
Member Spotlights: Tara Chavez and Jedi Moerke
By Gabriella Smith
It is once again time for member spotlights! This round we have Tara Chavez of the Albuquerque Chapter and Jedi Moerke of the White Sands Chapter.
Tara is the president of the Albuquerque Chapter. She was born in California but has lived here since she was five. Tara was born with a retinal detachment, and as a result, she lost her sight when she was three years old.
Tara works for the United States Forest Service. She is the quality assurance specialist for the Chief Information Office’s Validation and Testing team. When she can, she also tests for Section 508 compliance using her refreshable braille display and JAWS.
Tara also uses a guide dog at work. She and her first guide dog, a black lab named Rika, graduated in 2010. She says walking with a guide dog is different than using a cane, because there is a loss of tactile feedback, but mobility is more fluid. For instance, with a guide dog you don’t have to worry about finding poles, because the dog will go around obstacles on its own. One of her favorite things about using a guide dog is that the dog can help you find certain objects, such as trash cans or doors. She says one important thing to know about using a guide dog is that you can’t stop using your cane, because you’re going to need to use the cane sometimes instead of the dog. Tara is currently working with her second guide dog Patterson, with whom she graduated in 2017.
Jedi is the president of the White Sands Chapter. They were born blind, and they believe that it is not important to go into the how or why when talking about blindness, because while this can be somewhat helpful to get new members on their feet, it can also take away from the point that the amount you can see doesn’t matter. Jedi was born in New Mexico, grew up in Washington, and moved back here about five years ago.
Jedi works for the Commission for the Blind in Alamogordo and specializes in cane travel skills. They say that in addition to using a screen reader and braille at work, their most important adaptation is their mental skills, like being able to interpret the environment by listening to it. They say they are very good at listening to cane noises, not just from their own cane, but from their students’ canes as well.
Jedi became president of the White Sands Chapter in November, 2019. They have been chapter president before, but they say this time has been extra challenging thanks to the pandemic. Jedi says the chapter was struggling, and it got a slow start last year, but the chapter has been coming around and has been making a more positive start in 2021. They say that they have a good, strong board behind them, which is vital in order to have a healthy, thriving chapter. They say that the trouble with being a Federationist is that it can be difficult to balance that with other things sometimes, and NFB responsibilities can be inadvertently pushed to the back burner, so having a good team is very important.
Jedi is a vegan, and they enjoy spending time learning new vegan recipes. They say a lot of people think vegan food is boring, but they believe it can be really fun.