On Thursday, January 16, the Members of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland (NFBMD), “the State’s oldest and largest organization of and for blind and low vision Marylanders,” held a lobbyist effort in a Maryland state court house to advocate for rights of blind and low-vision Maryland residents. 

Even though this was during the midterm week, Baltimore School for the Arts student Noel Melis, a freshman pianist, attended this meeting with her mother and sister. 

According to NFBMD, “More than 116,000 blind and low vision individuals live in Maryland.”

Melis explained, “I wanted to help advocate for these rights for the blind community because my sister might totally lose her vision one day and these things will be helpful and might make her life better.”

Like Noel and her family, many other family members, blind individuals and supporters attend this event. There, they split into small groups to meet up with the advocates.  

“We were lobbying for rights for blind people. One of them was to raise the tax exemption for blind homeowners,” stated Melis.

According to NFBMD, blind Maryland homeowners were first given a tax exemption in the 1950s. However, the last time the exemption was raised was in 2000.

Taxes have gone up, but the unemployment rates for blind individuals have not significantly improved. From 2000 to 2024 the median home price increased by $306,700, and among today’s visually-impaired workers, 75 percent are unemployed. 

This is why NFBMD proposed to The Maryland General Assembly on January 16 to “pass legislation to raise the property tax exemption for the blind to $40,000” to counter the effects of economic barriers and discrimination in employment. 

Noel explained the importance of this lobbyist goal: “Although taxes have continued to get higher, the unfortunate issue for blind people or people with visual impairments is having a really difficult time getting jobs.”

Melis said, “I have heard of a lot of situations where people with visual impairments are rejected from jobs just because they cannot see. My mom has this friend and she has really low vision…I think she is legally blind…so she went to an interview to become a kindergarten teacher…and the interviewer [said], ‘How will you be able to read stories to the children,’ and my friend [said], ‘I can read braille.’” Braille is “a system of touch reading and writing for blind persons.”

Melis stated, “even before she left the room at the end, the interviewer threw her resume in the trash. Either something about this is going to have to change, because it is not fair to discriminate against the blind population just because they are blind, or they will have to [raise the tax exemption for blind homeowners].”

In addition to homeowner taxes, Noel explained that NFBMD and supporters were lobbying for “Autonomous Vehicles for Persons with Disabilities” or self-driving cars. 

Noel says this is important because blind people cannot drive and these vehicles would lead to more opportunities for them. On a personal level, Noel explains that her sister will most likely not be able to drive, so this legislation would really help her in the future. 

For Noel, the most rewarding part of the event was seeing all of the advocates who were all really supportive of the topics they were covering.  

Noel states, “There is somebody I know and something she says is ‘someone who is blind can do anything that someone who can see can do except for one thing, and that one thing is see.”

Noel Melis is just a freshman, but her dedication to blind rights activism shows that young people can make a difference in their communities. Noel, her family, and the efforts of the NFBMD show the power of collective advocacy in propelling policy making and how small efforts can make big change. Young voices like Noel remind us that change starts with those who show up.

To contact this writer, email Muse Newspaper at musebsa@bsfa.org.

Featured photo by Sydney Sharp for The Muse.