Paula Bailey: An Inspiration to All

FIRE has established the Paula Bailey Inspirational Community Member Award
Paula Bailey grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. She moved to Tallahassee to attend graduate school at Florida State University, and received her Masters of Arts in Communication. She got married, had a child, and worked as a media consultant and graphics editor. Paula’s life went along smoothly — until 1999. That’s when Paula became deaf and blind.

On January 31, 1999, Paula caught what she thought was the flu, with a fever, headache, and earache. But what she had was meningitis, an inflammation of the membrane covering the brain. It caused her to slip into a coma, which lasted nearly six weeks. While comatose, she also suffered strokes and cardiac arrest. On regaining consciousness, she could not see or hear.

FIRE staff members reached out to Paula after she regained consciousness. She learned to understand what friends and family were saying to her as they spelled letters in her hand. She learned Braille to read and to use her computer. After she recovered she took back every part of her life, from church to her book club. She also became a part of the blind community and made innumerable connections, including becoming a FIRE board member. In July, 2000, Paula’s longtime employer, Wilderness Graphics, sponsored Paula to carry the spirit of ADA Torch in the nationwide relay celebrating the 10th anniversary of the American Disabilities Act.

A friend who became her personal assistant said, “So many people would tell her she was an inspiration to them.” He added that in 2004, Paula had also gotten back her old personality. “Her sense of humor returned. She spent more time thinking of other people...baking for people. She spent more time doing nice things for people than anyone I’ve ever known.”

Paula passed away in April of 2005 due to injuries sustained in a car accident. The Baileys were on their way to the Springtime Tallahassee Parade, so she could march with fellow blind community members, when their car was hit by another driver.

Paula was an inspiration to all of us at FIRE from the first time her Vision Rehabilitation Therapist met her in the hospital in 1999 until her last Board meeting in 2005. Paula was a member of the Board committee that organized the Dining in the Dark event. This dinner is held, in part, to honor her brilliant spirit. The Paula Bailey “Inspirational Community Member” Award is given to a blind community member, in her memory, who has similarly overcome obstacles and become an inspiration to us all.

F I R E (Florida Institute of Rehabilitation Education) Visit their website!

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