60 Seconds with Robert Hicks

April 2017

Name: Robert Hicks

Age: 70

Where do you live?
Fort Worth, Texas, USA

How many relatives do you have with BCM?
Two are known – a great-nephew and my late maternal grandfather

What is your job?
I’m a retired Professional Engineer (Civil) with 34 years of service as an engineer, program manager and regional Director of Operations for multifamily housing with the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

What are your hobbies?
Sports . Texas A&M and Cowboys footbal fan; friendly poker games; very involved with the Episcopal church on local, diocesan and national level; researching family history of my Florida pioneer “cracker” ancestors; extensive RV travel and hiking in US national and state parks; and international cruise ship travel to exotic places like Antarctica, South America and the Galapagos Islands.

What is your most useul BCM tip?
After a lifetime with BCM, here are a number from various times of life:
If you can’t see it at a distance, take a photo with a cell phone (I like my Iphone 6+) and expand the image to get a better look.

Small 5X pocket-sized hand magnifiers are very useful. Glasses not at all. New colour-filteres sunglasses are great.
Put white string loops in brown socks to tell them from black (don’t get any other colours except withe or tan).
Label colours in clothing with laundry markers to avoid embarassing miss matches (be careful who you trust to tell you what colour it really is).

Marry a woman who doesen’t mind doing the driving.
Accept a job in cities that have decent public transportation and good taxi service, to be able to be independent always. Accept that driving is not mandatory.

As a young person, stand up to bullies, but don’t let anger guide your response to ignorant people.
Always study and work hard – if you are well-respected and liked, many wonderful people will set up to mentor you and help you overcome educational and occupational obstacles related to BCM.

Keep all your “stuff” well organized – clutter makes life very much more difficult.
Watch out for paper cuts on your nose when searching for information in file dawers or filling cabinets at work.
Take full advantage of the Talking Books program of the National Library of Congress (in USA) through the state library where you live.

Greatest achievement/proudest moment so far…
Served 5 ½ years as volunteer Treasurer of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.  Selected as Outstanding Handicapped Employee of the Year representing the Dept. of HUD.

Not many people know this about me but…
I am a certified SCUBA diver (vision under water is naturally magnified about 25%).