Pulaski County Courthouse Vendor with Visual Impairment Nominated for Award

Mr. Brent Philpot of North Little Rock has been nominated as a candidate for the Annual Consumer of the Year Award to be presented by Arkansas Department of Human Services Division of Services for the Blind (DSB). The overall winner will be named at the end of the year.

"I was delighted to learn that my DSB counselor was nominating me for Consumer of the Year. I am now successfully employed after being without a job for a few years due to health issues. I really enjoy working as a vendor with the vending facility program. It is something I have always wanted to do. The best part is that I can see myself continuing to work in the vending stand program for a long time, Philpot said.

Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor Dwight Turner nominated Philpot saying, “This consumer was very committed to training and searching for employment. He also fulfilled his part of the (rehabilitation) plan we developed and without fail was cooperative with his counselor. His goal was to train and work, and that is what he did. He completed his training with great success and was on time with duties and tasks. Those who trained him gave him high marks in all areas.”

Philpot is now a vending stand operator in the Pulaski County Courthouse. “He successfully operates it every day. This employment is appropriate for him because he enjoys working around people and has a great personality, which is conducive to meeting the public and maintaining a successful business,” Turner said.

Philpot cannot see well enough to drive and reading is very difficult for him. He explained that when he was a child, he was run over by a UPS truck and that caused his visual impairment and traumatic brain injury. “Doctors don’t even know how I can see what I can see. Doctors recommended that my mother send me to Arkansas School for the Blind (ASB). Braille skills came very slowly to me. A special teacher, who has passed away now, took her summer to teach me Braille.” Philpot said if it weren’t for all the skills he learned through ASB and DSB, “I’d still be in my Mother’s house and shaking every time I had to go out.”

Instead, Philpot graduated from the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in 1997 with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Performing Arts and a minor in Special Education. After working a year at the ARC of Arkansas as a drama instructor and United Cerebral Palsy for five years as a drama coach, Philpot moved to New Orleans one week before Hurricane Katrina hit. “I came back here and worked a year at Mainstream (an Independent Living Center), but was in and out of the hospital due to headaches, so I had to quit,” he said. When his health improved, Philpot enrolled at Pulaski Technical College (PTC) and completed training to become an occupational therapist. DSB paid for his tuition, books, and fees at UCA and PTC and bought him a Braille Plus Mobile Manager notetaker, which Philpot now uses to assist him in his business. When Philpot decided to change his vocational goal and become a vending Stand Operator, DSB paid for his vending operator training, along with meals and transportation expenses while he was in training. “I’ve been a vendor for a year now. Without DSB, Dwight and other counselors, I wouldn’t have had any of these opportunities,” said Philpot.

“College was good for me. I met my current wife. At UCA I was part of the Social Orientation Staff, and I was on the committee to hire the first president of the Disability Office, so UCA helped me in learning to take on leadership roles,” he said, but the “taste of the vending program” that he got in a high school career program and through a Work Study program stuck with him and eventually he decided to make it his career. Now he says he enjoys owning his own business and the interaction with people he meets. Sometimes customers share their problems with him. Philpot is very outgoing and compassionate and says, “If someone is hurt, I’m going to help them.”

Philpot is more than a number to DSB; he’s a success and an inspiration. DSB is privileged to recognize Philpot for a job well done and trusts that success will continue to follow this deserving individual, who has demonstrated that with determination, blindness is not a barrier to competitive employment. Hundreds of Arkansans with a disability return to work each year after receiving vocational rehabilitation services.

DSB’s vending facility program services are available to persons who are blind or severely visually impaired; meet eligibility criteria; and are interested in or have the skills to manage a snack bar. The vending program locates the sales site; initially equips and stocks the facility; maintains the equipment; trains the vendor; and provides oversight and record keeping. Originally passed in 1936, the Randolph-Sheppard Act creates entrepreneurial opportunities for people who are blind or severely visually impaired to achieve their "maximum vocational potential" through the operation of food and vending service businesses located on any federal property. Congress expanded the act in 1974, to include the operation of cafeterias.

DSB provides vocational rehabilitation services to individuals who are blind or severely visually impaired and whose goal is successful employment. DSB also serves youth and older blind individuals. People wanting information about DSB’s programs and services can call 1-800-960-9270 or 501-682-5463.