ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- Randy Heflin, Anniston Army Depot's director of Information Management asked a crowd of more than 100 to face all the challenges they meet with a can-do attitude.
"I will just say I always tried to meet all challenges before me," said Heflin. "Sometimes I failed -- most of the time I did fine."
Heflin told how he was hired at the depot through a state-sponsored program for those with disabilities. For three months, he was given a stipend from the state, but no paycheck from the federal government until he was hired on as a career-conditional employee in May of 1983.
He told the crowd how relieved he was to be hired.
"I was now a depot employee. Some folks may think this is not significant. All I can say is, coming from the private sector and working 80-hour weeks with no paid holidays, no annual, no sick leave and no weekends off - well, I thought I had died and gone to Heaven," said Heflin.
Heflin's disability was discovered when he was eight years old.
One day, he was retrieving the mail when he realized he couldn't see out of his left eye. His father immediately took him to the eye doctor, but no one could ever explain how or why the blindness had occurred.
No doctors, to this day, know why or what caused this. Some say it is unresolved lazy eye. Some say a birth defect. Some say it's the after effects of scarlet fever, which I had when I was a baby," said Heflin. "The bottom line is, really, no one knows."
School life after his blindness was discovered was filled with teasing by the other children because of the patch he wore over his eye.
"All I knew was I couldn't play football or baseball or ride my bicycle. My mom refused to allow me to participate in any sports until junior high for fear I would go completely blind," said Heflin, adding that, when his mother relented it was reluctantly.
He encouraged the supervisors and directors present at the luncheon to look at their disabled employees and not see what they can't do, but see their abilities.
"Folks don't realize disabled employees have an offering to bring to the table. Disabled employees are hardworking, conscientious and loyal," said Heflin.
He told of his early days at ANAD when he worked harder than he had to, just to prove to himself and his boss that he could do all his job requirements and more.
"I had something to prove," said Heflin. "I not only wanted a job, I wanted my bosses to know I was going to go the extra mile and, above all, I cared."
Throughout his speech, Heflin mentioned a number of disabled people who, throughout history have not only succeeded, but excelled in their chosen careers. Leaders like Franklin Roosevelt and Stephen Hawking, historical figures such as Helen Keller and musicians Beethoven and Ray Charles.
"All were or are disabled, yet all overcame severe challenges," said Heflin.
He began his remarks with a quote from another public figure, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Social Sharing