J. Webster Smith
NFB of Ohio President

    John Webster (J.W.) Smith was born in Chicago in 1955 and has been blind since birth. His hobbies include reading, watching sports, singing, and playing the piano. Dr. Smith and his wife Regina have two daughters, Ebony and Joshelyn.

    J.W. attended public school in the Chicago area and graduated from high school in 1976. He received his bachelor of arts degree in history and speech communication from Indiana University in 1982, his master’s in speech communication from Purdue University in 1985, and his PhD from Wayne State University in Detroit in 1989.

    He has worked as a music therapist and a radio announcer; however, since 1983 he has taught a number of university courses, including persuasion, public speaking, business and professional speaking, political communication, rhetoric and public address, oral interpretation, religious rhetoric, Black communication styles, and communication with persons with physical disabilities.

    Presently J.W. is a professor of speech communication in the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Before this he was professor of speech communication at Indiana University, South Bend.

    As a blind African American J.W. believes it is essential that we expand the definition of diversity, encouraging openness and understanding of all people, regardless of their race or ability. He often refers to nondisabled people as the TABs, temporarily able-bodied. He firmly believes that our differences can be our strengths, that many of us live more for affirmation than for bread, and that we are each responsible to all of us for all of us.

    Dr. Smith is a member of the National Federation of the Blind, the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio, the National Association of Blind Educators, the National Communication Association, and the Central States Communication Association. He served as first vice president of the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio from 1994 to 2008 and was elected president in November 2008. In addition he has served on the Ohio State Library Consumer Advisory Committee and was a member of the State Consumer Advisory Council of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission for a number of years. He has also served on the Ohio Governor’s Council on People with Disabilities.