1. Hello ACB family my name is Koni Sims. I am running for a position on the Board of Directors for the American Council of the Blind (ACB). Currently I am the President of the South Dakota Association of the Blind (SDAB). I was born with Aniridia. My parents taught me as a child how to be an advocate for myself and others. Applying the lessons my parents taught me I received the Governor’s award for Outstanding Citizen with a Disability in 2017. SDAB awarded me the Gus Zachte award for Outstanding Service in 2018. Both awards were presented to me in appreciation of the advocacy work I have done for the state of South Dakota. In 2020 ACB presented me with the JP Morgan Chase award.
Throughout my life I have held various positions. I was a banker early in my career. In 1996 with the support and encouragement from my husband, Seth, I went back to school to become a Massage Therapist. I have always loved the medical field. This made me want to keep learning how to help my clients and work with medical professionals. During my career as a therapist, I have worked for several chiropractors and have been self-employed. I was hired by Sanford USD Medical Center and Hospital to develop and manage a massage program in their hospital. I continued my education over the years to become a Certified Sports Massage Therapist, Certified Lymphedema Technician, and Medical Massage Practitioner.
During my employment with Sanford, I served on their Diversity Council. I conducted education presentations to medical professionals at the Sanford Medical Center concerning low vision and blindness topics. Due to my expertise in massage, I was asked to write an article for the Massage magazine which led to several articles an eventually an eBook.
2. As a member of ACB since 1984 I have served on a lot of boards and committees on local, state, and national levels. Currently I am President of the South Dakota Association of the Blind (SDAB). While performing this duty I Serve as chair on SDAB’s Publicity and Legislative Committees. In an effort to communicate our accomplishments to our members and partners I agreed to co-chair our newsletter.
Before becoming President of SDAB I served five years on the SDAB board. I also have served as President and Vice President of the local Sioux Falls chapter of SDAB. While working at various positions in SDAB I also serve as a member of Sioux Falls Pedestrian Advisory Committee. In 2018 I was asked to serve on ACB’s Transportation Committee. I am currently part of a working group updating the Pedestrian Safety Handbook. In 2020 I was asked to serve on ACB’s Voting Task Force as their Communication and Outreach Specialist. As part of this Task Force, I am working to achieve universal voting for ACB members to participate in national elections for officers and board members in 2021.
This past February during our state’s legislative session I personally testified on three bills. I had legislators and lobbyist reach out to me asking me to testify on behalf of their bills. When I testified about online voting registration; a legislator stated they should rethink their positions and consider what I stated to them.
All of these afore mentioned tasks have enabled me to work with local, state, and national leaders. Throughout my tenure in ACB I have been able to build bridges on local, state, and national levels to achieve greater accessibility and opportunity for blind individuals.
3. A key focus of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) is the integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the organization. In my capacity as a board member, I wish to promote inclusion and equity for rural areas, working to ensure the same access to services in transportation, information access, and health/wellness programs are available to everyone but specially to blind individuals in rural areas.
There is currently no voice for the rural community on the board and I would like to be that voice. Living in a rural state I see and live rural challenges every day. Throughout my life I have learned how to achieve successful outcomes with the decision makers in rural communities. Enabling this population is critical, the challenges posed by rural accessibility are different then urban solutions, think broadband, telephone access, intersection design, where does the money come from to afford these improvements.
As outreach specialist for the Voting Task Force (VTF), I worked with affiliate presidents, special interest affiliates, chapters, and state affiliates. I was able to bring to them the resources needed to answer their questions and promote the sense of equity and inclusion ensuring universal voting for ACB members. I would like to take lessons learned from this experience and use it to effect greater equity and inclusion to ACB’s programs and services.
A major initiative that ACB has introduced is its Health and Wellness campaign. Health and Wellness have always been close to my heart. I want to make sure the Health and Wellness programs established by ACB are relevant and integrated into rural areas. Understanding the benefits of long-term health and wellness habits and educating my community is something I have done my whole life, have the passion for and ability to contribute.