State taking action to help workers who are visually impaired – ABC15 Arizona

Adam Bevell takes advantage of the Business Enterprise Program. B.E.P. helps train people who are blind to be independent entrepreneurs, mostly in the cafeteria and vending businesses.

PHOENIX – Valerie Luttenberger runs the busiest government cafeteria in the state. Adam Bevell owns and operates about 100 vending machines in the Phoenix area.

Think about what goes into doing those two jobs. Now imagine doing them in the dark. Really think about that for a minute, how much we rely on our sense of sight.

“How do I get to and from work, get to and from home, how do I do my grocery shopping,” said Jason Sauer with the Department of Economic Security’s Business Enterprise Program.

Adam had to re-learn how to do all of those things. When he was going into high school he found out he had a degenerative eye condition that would eventually cost him his sight.

He turned to the Business Enterprise Program for help. B.E.P. helps train people who are blind to be independent entrepreneurs, mostly in the cafeteria and vending businesses.

“If you’ve stopped at Sunset Point rest stop on your way to Flagstaff and bought a candy bar, you purchased something that a person who is blind has merchandised,” Sauer said.

Curated from State taking action to help workers who are visually impaired – ABC15 Arizona