Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Eyes Wide Open
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Lidsky, Isaac Jared
BIRTHDATE: 7/30/1979
WEBSITE: http://www.lidsky.com/
CITY: Windermere
STATE: FL
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Lidsky * http://www.lidsky.com/about/ * https://www.ted.com/speakers/isaac_lidsky * http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0509240/ * http://www.thedoctorstv.com/articles/3961-blindness-changes-saved-by-the-bell-star-s-view-of-life * https://www.inc.com/leigh-buchanan/orlando-decorative-concretes-founder-built-a-70-million-dollar-empire-he-will-never-see.html
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born July 30, 1979, in Miami, FL; married; wife’s name Dorothy.
EDUCATION:Harvard, B.A.; Harvard Law School, J.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, speaker, and entrepreneur. Orlando Decorative Concrete Construction, CEO. Worked previously as a child actor on “Saved by the Bell: The New Class”; editor of the Harvard Law Review; Fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society; co-founder of an internet start-up; in the civil division of the Justice Department; clerk for the Supreme Court.
MEMBER:Hope For Vision, advisory board member. Young Entrepreneur Council, member. Regional Executive Committee for the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean, member. Florida Hospital For Children, board member. Young Presidents’ Organization, Orlando chapter leader.
AWARDS:Temple Bar Scholars, Inns of Court, UK. Appointed to federal leadership position by a U.S. Senator. Appointed to State leadership position by Governor of Florida.
WRITINGS
Has been featured in numerous periodicals and television news outlets, including, Forbes, MSNBC, U.S. News & World Report, 60 Minutes, and CNN.
SIDELIGHTS
Isaac Lidsky is a writer, speaker, and entrepreneur. He is the CEO of Orlando Decorative Concrete Construction, a large construction business in central Florida. He has been featured in numerous national media outlets, including Forbes, CNN, and MSNBC.
Lidsky grew up in Miami, Florida. His parents were Jewish emigrants from Cuba who moved to Miami after the revolution to escape religious persecution. When Lidsky was thirteen, he and his mother moved to Los Angeles so he could pursue child acting. After appearing in hundreds of commercials and playing small parts on television shows, he was offered a key role on “Saved by the Bell: The New Class.” Lidsky acted on the show for one season, after which the character that he played was cut. Following this, Lidsky left child acting and began applying to college. He began college at Columbia University at age sixteen. After a year he transferred to Harvard, from which he graduated at age nineteen with degrees in math and computer science.
Following college graduation, Lidsky worked for an advertising optimization business, developing software. After a few years with the business, Lidsky left to attend law school at Harvard. During this time, Lidsky met his future wife, Dorothy, who was studying undergraduate art at Harvard while Lidsky was studying law. While at Harvard, Lidsky became the first student fellow at the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society.
During this time, Lidsky was slowly losing his sight. At age thirteen he had learned that he has a degenerative eye disease, and by his mid-twenties he had completely lost his sight.
After graduating from Harvard Law, Lisdky worked as a clerk for an appellate court judge and then began working in the civil division of the Justice Department. In 2008 he began clerking for Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, becoming the first blind Supreme Court clerk. When Lidsky’s wife was accepted into Sotheby’s Institute of Art masters program, the two relocated to London and Lidsky began working at a large international law firm. In 2010 the couple found out that Dorothy was pregnant with triplets, and relocated back to the U.S. for prenatal care.
Back in the U.S., Lidsky consulted a career couch to determine his next career move. The coach concluded that Lidsky is best fit to be a CEO of a company, so he began seeking out opportunities. In 2011, Lidsky and former college roommate Zac Merriman purchased Orlando Decorative Concrete, Inc. (ODC), a residential shell contractor. Within months the business partners realized that ODC was quickly failing. With some financial aid from Lidsky’s family and some savvy business decisions, Lidsky and Merriman were able to pull the company back up.
Lidsky is on the advisory board of Hope for Vision, a nonprofit dedicated to raising funds to find cures and treatments for blinding genetic retinal diseases. In 2014 Lidsky began speaking publicly, both advising companies and talking about his life with blindness. Lidsky Lives in Windermere, Florida with his wife and four children.
In Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities in a World That Can’t See Clearly, Lidsky writes about how blindness has impacted his life and how he has been able to use perspective to overcome challenges that have come his way. The book was listed on the Washington Post’s Ten books on leadership to read in 2017.
In the book, Lidsky explains that when he found out, at age thirteen, that he was bound for blindness, he was devastated. He believed that blindness would ruin his life and prevent him from achieving any greatness. However, he made a decision that the degenerative disease would not limit him. The thesis of this book centers on this idea of perspective. Despite Lidsky’s very real visual impairment, he affirms that success and greatness are achieved through perspective and perseverance.
Lidsky urges readers to not let the perspectives or assumptions of others influence their regard of themselves, nor their expectations of their abilities. He also discusses the important difference between accepting one’s circumstances and making the best of the situation versus surrendering to victimhood.
Lidsky includes didactic moments throughout the book. He describes an event that happened in his life and the lessons he took from it and recommends how the reader can take away the same lessons. Some examples of this are when he discusses when he and his wife discovered that she was pregnant with triplets in the midst of her attending graduate school in London. Further, they learned that one of the babies had a potentially fatal heart problem. Lidsky explains how this situation taught he and his wife to be adaptable and accept the fragility of plans.
Michelle Bowles on the What is That Book About Website, wrote: “Reading this book through [Lidsky’s] perspective will definitely give you some food for thought and hopefully broaden your mind to endless possibilities and a renewed spirit for hope.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Men’s Health, May, 2016, Denis Boyles, “The Visionary”, p. 16.
Psychology Today, May-June, 2017, Jennifer Bleyer, “Vision Quest: One Question for Isaac Lidsky,” p. 96.
Publishers Weekly, January 23, 2017, “Isaac Lidsky: In Eyes Wide Open, Blind Actor-Turned-Lawyer-Turned-CEO Isaac Lidsky Shares How to See Beyond the Limitations of Past Experiences and Take Charge of One’s Own Reality,” p. 21.
Success, March, 2017, Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition), review of Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities in a World That Can’t See Clearly, p. 83.
TED Radio Hour, January 20, 2017, Guy Raz, “How Can Going Blind Give You Vision?.”
Training, March-April, 2017, Isaac Lidsky, “Learning to Live and Lead Eyes Wide Open,” p. 40+.
ONLINE
Publishers Weekly, https://www.publishersweekly.com (September 30, 2017), review of Eyes Wide Open.
What is That Book About, https://www.whatisthatbookabout.com (February 19, 2017), Michelle Bowles, review of Eyes Wide Open.*
The Incredibly Inspiring Journey of a Blind Entrepreneur Who Built a $70 Million Company
Isaac Lidsky has been a child actor and a Supreme Court clerk. For his third act, he has overcome blindness to turn ODC Construction into a thriving business.
By Leigh Buchanan
@LeighEBuchanan
CREDIT: Courtesy Company; Getty
Editor's note: This tour of small businesses across the country highlights the imagination, diversity, and resilience of American enterprise.
Isaac Lidsky may possess the most eclectic resume in entrepreneurship. Over the years, he has been a child television star, a Supreme Court clerk, and the co-founder of an internet startup. More recently, Lidsky has used his gift for logistics to build ODC Construction into one of the fastest-growing construction businesses in central Florida. Tour the ubiquitous luxury and retirement developments here and you will see thousands of homes for which ODC provided the foundations and frames--what he calls a house's "guts."
Lidsky, though, has never seen a single home that ODC has built. He is blind.
Perhaps Lidsky's tumultuous life inculcated in him a desire to control the unpredictable, which is key to managing in this market. Orlando's housing bust was especially dramatic: The number of homes built plummeted from 35,000 in 2005 to fewer than 5,000 in 2009. Subcontractors shriveled, and skilled workers sought more fertile fields, creating a labor shortage when demand picked up. And while construction operates year-round under Florida's sunny skies, almost daily afternoon downpours in summer can stop work and wash away the morning's progress.
In 2011, Lidsky surveyed that sorry scene and detected opportunity. He and a business partner, Zac Merriman, acquired ODC, a small, undistinguished subcontractor that, at the time, had $11 million in revenue. They transformed it into a full-service construction and logistics company designed to make the process of building hundreds--even thousands--of units butter-smooth for its clients. Lidsky had no experience in construction. He'd never even owned a home. With no preconceptions about how things in the industry are done, he proceeded to do them very differently.
So rather than distribute work among dozens of subcontractors, as almost all construction firms do, Lidsky hired his own full-time labor team, more than quadrupling the business's work force to 350. To swiftly scale revenue (ODC did $70 million in 2014), he brought on Tony Hartsgrove, a sales expert with 17 years of experience working for the large national homebuilders that make up ODC's clientele. And he oversaw development of sophisticated software that is constantly allocating resources, identifying tasks, and reordering schedules across all the company's projects, so that even when rain sheets down crews rarely fall behind.
Meritage Homes, one of the country's largest homebuilders, was scrambling in late 2012 as work on 126 units slowed to a crawl because of labor and materials shortages. "We were in this spot where lumber packs were just sitting on job sites," says Meritage division president Brian Kittle. "Isaac came in and laid out a detailed plan for how we were going to close all those units, and he executed to it. He allowed us to be profitable in a year when the cards were stacked against us.
"Isaac has run ODC like it is a part of Meritage Homes," Kittle adds. "They are the only vendor we can say that about."
Hollywood and Harvard
Florida is one of those destination states from which most residents don't originally hail. Lidsky, though, is a native. His parents are Cuban Jews who fled to Miami post-revolution to escape religious persecution. Lidsky was born there in 1979.
In those years, Miami was a winter destination for New York ad agencies that were filming commercials. Lidsky's mother, Betti, studied the industry and got acquainted with agents and managers. At 6 months of age, Lidsky was starring in a diaper commercial, the first of more than 150 he would be in through grade school.
In 1993, Lidsky temporarily relocated with his mother to Los Angeles (the rest of the family stayed in Florida) to join the cast of Saved by the Bell: The New Class, a Saturday-morning spinoff of the hit NBC series Saved by the Bell. For one season he played uber-nerd Weasel. "The whole celebrity thing" was intoxicating, Lidsky says. "Autographs. Press. Special appearances."
But Saved by the Bell had also spun off a primetime offering subtitled The College Years, which failed faster than a slacker at MIT. From its ashes, NBC rescued the inexplicably beloved character Screech and planted him in The New Class. "In the immutable laws of Saturday-morning television, there is not room for two dorky characters," says Lidsky. "I found myself at 14 an out-of-work actor in L.A."
An academically talented kid who skipped seventh grade, Lidsky applied to colleges. He turned 16 about a week and a half before starting at Columbia. A year later he transferred to Harvard, graduating with degrees in math and computer science.
Lidsky was poised to start Harvard Law School when his sister's boyfriend dangled the entrepreneurship apple. The boyfriend wanted to do an internet startup: Would Lidsky sign on as the software guy? This was 1999, so Lidsky's answer, naturally, was "sure." Their advertising optimization business went through several name changes and business models. They raised some money. Hired a professional executive team.
By 2001, Lidsky had had enough. He exited and started Harvard Law. It was a heady time: Academics had just begun grappling with the legal and social complexities of a digital world. Lidsky worked with luminaries like Lawrence Lessig and Jonathan Zittrain. He became the first student fellow at the influential Berkman Center for the Internet and Society.
After graduating, Lidsky did a clerkship with an appellate court judge. Then he worked for the civil division of the Justice Department, arguing cases on behalf of the federal government before the circuit courts of appeal. But "I had dreamed of clerking for the Supreme Court from the first I knew that institution existed," Lidsky says. He applied to the court and was turned down. So he applied again. And again.
Two justices, three babies
Good news arrived in 2008. Sandra Day O'Connor--recently retired--invited Lidsky to clerk for her. (Retired Supreme Court justices retain offices and staff.) "The first week I was there she came into my office and said, 'Oh, Isaac. How would you like to work for Ruth this year? Why don't you just walk down the hall and talk to Ruth?'" Lidsky did, and ended up dividing his services between O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Before Saved by the Bell lured Lidsky to Los Angeles, retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease, had been diagnosed in Lidsky and two of his sisters. In law school Lidsky began using a cane and screen-reading software. "I came out of law school a moderately functioning blind guy," he says.
Three months before starting at the Supreme Court, Lidsky met with the librarians and technical staff there to arrange for case materials to be downloaded and made available in a format that could be read electronically. "It takes a village," says Lidsky of the help and support that allowed him to become the first--and so far only--blind Supreme Court clerk.
After the Supreme Court, Lidsky accepted a job at a large international law firm in London so his wife, Dorothy, could get her master's degree at the Sotheby's Institute of Art. In early 2010, the couple learned that Dorothy was pregnant. A short time later they found out it was triplets. "We hightailed it back to the States for medical care," says Lidsky. When one child began showing signs of severe distress, doctors delivered the triplets at 29 weeks. Their combined weight: 7.5 pounds.
The smallest child, Thaddeus, finally came home after 70 days in the neonatal unit. Lidsky took three months of paternity leave, a benefit his employer offered but did not expect anyone to use. "The whole law firm rat race--living in a two-bedroom apartment with newborn triplets after what we had just gone through--none of it made any sense," says Lidsky. "We needed to change."
Lidsky consulted a career coach, who after four or five sessions and some psychological testing determined he was best suited to be a CEO. But "as a sixth-year associate in a law firm I didn't have anyone breaking down my door to run a company," he says. One of Lidsky's best friends, his former Harvard roommate Merriman, suggested they buy a business together. "The economy was in a state of misery. You had industries that were at or near once-in-a-lifetime lows," says Lidsky. "It started to make sense."
A rest-stop rescue
After several abortive attempts to buy a company, Lidsky found himself back home in Florida, the co-owner of what was then called Orlando Decorative Concrete. ODC was a relatively modest subcontractor that did foundations and masonry in central Florida. It had ridden the rising tide of the early 2000s, then switched to a rock-bottom-price strategy during the downturn.
Several months after the acquisition, "we realized that far from treading water, the business was sinking rapidly," Lidsky says. The specter of bankruptcy rose. "Zac said to me, 'I have spent 12 years building financial security for my family, and in three months you've ruined it.'"
Lidsky lamented his situation during a phone call to his mother, Betti. She offered him $350,000, which she'd saved over the years from her husband's legal career and her own jobs as a nurse and social worker. The recession had taught her the vulnerability of banks, so the money was in cash. Lidsky said no, but ultimately changed his mind. At 5:30 on an October morning in 2011, he and his wife buckled their then 1-year-old triplets into a Chevy Suburban and got on the Florida Turnpike, heading south. Betti Lidsky, who still lived in Miami, got on the Turnpike headed north. They met at a rest stop midway.
"The exchange took two minutes," says Lidsky. "She handed me the bag of money, gave me a hug and kiss, blew the kids some kisses, and said, 'I know you can fix this.'"
Lidsky and Merriman set out to do just that. They got rid of customers that were costing them money, including their second-largest account, which represented a third of the company's revenue. With Hartsgrove's help, they brought in more and higher-volume clients. They developed their logistics system and created a project management team that operates out of a war room. "By getting rid of the unprofitable work and trying to squeeze some extra dollars out of the profitable work we bought ourselves a little bit of runway to invest in operations," says Lidsky. "But it was excruciatingly frustrating because you have to sell ahead of building it."
The business expanded from laying concrete foundations and building concrete block walls (used for the first floors of Florida homes because of hurricanes) to erecting entire frames. As the housing market regained mass and muscle, so did ODC.
Vision without sight
If you drive by an ODC work site, take a look at the trucks, some of which are equipped with large ice-making machines. "We send them out with crews every morning to make sure they get plenty of water and keep hydrated," says Hartsgrove. "We also make sure they take their breaks."
In Orlando's still-fallow labor market, "workers find workers," says Hartsgrove, explaining ODC's ability to recruit hundreds of employees. "We treat them much better" than competitors, he says. "We have employee appreciation days. We try to give them a bonus at the holidays. We pay all our overtime and offer health insurance. We have stringent safety guidelines."
Of course, leadership also matters. And it turns out that that career consultant was right: Lidsky is suited to be a CEO. His blindness has made it necessary to surround himself with excellent people whom he trusts and to whom he delegates.
Unable to read body language or facial expressions, he requires everyone, including customers and business partners, to articulate what they're thinking. "I can't see you. Are you shaking your head? What do you even think about this?" says Lidsky. "Often it is pushing for an explicit verbal response that leads to more discussion and more ideas."
As for his inability to see what ODC has accomplished, Lidsky is dismissive. "I have three beautiful children and I have never seen their faces," he says. "It's not productive to spend a ton of time thinking about that.
"If you are going to assess your lot in life or your circumstances, it's only fair to look at the whole picture," he continues. "And from that perspective, I am beyond lucky."
Blindness Changes 'Saved by the Bell' Star's View of Life
By The Doctors Staff on 12:00 AM PT, March 29, 2017
Pause
Mute
Current Time 1:13
/
Duration Time 5:05
Loaded: 0%Progress: 0%
Share
CaptionsFullscreen
Isaac Lidsky has led an extraordinary life – but he claims that of all the amazing experiences along his path, “In many ways, one of the greatest things that ever happened to me was going blind.”
Isaac had a career as a child actor, culminating when he landed the role of Barton "Weasel" Wyzell on “Saved by the Bell: The New Class” -- he calls it “a lifechanging experience.” He went on to study math and computer science at Harvard, graduating at age 19, then law school, after which he clerked for two Supreme Court justices.
Now Issac’s married to “the most amazing woman” and has four gorgeous kids. He’s also blind. At age 13 he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. “The doctor said, ‘You will go blind. There are no cures, and we don’t know much about the disease. Good luck!’”
Watch: Adapting to Blindness
Isaac was terrified. “I knew going blind would ruin my life.” The disease progressed gradually as he lost more and more areas of his field of vision. He had lost his sight entirely by age 23.
Things changed when he met with a low-vision rehabilitation specialist. She was completely focused on practical solutions he could use to navigate life without vision, and he realized, “Everything I thought I knew about blindness was a fiction born of my fears. I was so busy worrying about some awful future that I wasn’t taking care of the moment, now. There only is now, today, this moment, and I chose to take control of my reality.”
“How could you take something that would so obviously be a negative – going blind – and you flipped it, you made it a positive?” wonders ER Physician DR. Travis Stork. “I lost my sight, but I gained an empowering vision,” Isaac responded. Blindness prompted him to realize that he could choose how to live and who to be: “I chose to live a blessed life.”
Watch: Blind Bucket List
He was inspired to write a book, “Eyes Wide Open.” He says, “It’s not about disabilities per se. Anyone will face challenges, struggles, regrets. Anyone can see what I see, and I hope many will.”
Retinitis pigmentosa is a genetic disease but both of Isaac’s parents were recessive carriers – he had no idea he was at risk until he developed symptoms. Anyone developing “tunnel vision” or other symptoms of vision should see a doctor.
Isaac Lidsky
Actor
Isaac Lidsky was born on July 30, 1979 in Miami, Florida, USA as Isaac Jared Lidsky. He is an actor, known for Saved by the Bell: The New Class (1993), Summertime Switch (1994) and 60 Minutes (1968). He has been married to Dorothy Johnston since 2004. They have three children. See full bio »
Born: July 30, 1979 in Miami, Florida, USA
Quick Links
Biography
Awards
Photo Gallery
Filmography (by Job)
Trailers and Videos
Explore More
IMDb Picks: September
We're both excited and terrified for the return of Pennywise in Stephen King's It. See which other movies and TV shows we're excited about this month.
Visit IMDb Picks
Share this page:
Do you have a demo reel?
Add it to your IMDbPage
David H. Lawrence, XVII - Drama -- On-camera drama reel featuring David H. Lawrence XVII, in scenes from Heroes, The Unit, LOST, and moreMy Demo Reel -- No description provided.My Demo Reel -- Three different genresSara Woo Hosting Reel -- Sara Woo's Hosting Reel covers Film, Food and Travel!
Find out more at IMDb Pro »
Connect with IMDb
How Much Have You Seen?
How much of Isaac Lidsky's work have you seen?
User Polls
poll image Worst-dressed TV character?
poll image You Are Breaking the Fourth Wall!!! (Part 2)
poll image Fictional TV Eatery
poll image TV Gets Real: The 1970s
poll image Sad TV Show Mashups
poll image Fifty Years of 60 Minutes
See more polls »
3 nominations. See more awards »
Known For
Saved by the Bell: The New Class
Saved by the Bell: The New Class
Barton 'Weasel' Wyzell
(1993-1994)
Summertime Switch
Summertime Switch
Numbers
(1994)
60 Minutes
60 Minutes
Himself - Visually Impaired Person (segment "The Eyes")
(1999-2000)
WGN Morning News
WGN Morning News
Himself
(2017)
Hide Hide all | | Edit
Filmography
Jump to: Actor | Self | Archive footage
Hide HideActor (2 credits)
1994 Summertime Switch (TV Movie)
Numbers
1993 Saved by the Bell: The New Class (TV Series)
Barton 'Weasel' Wyzell
- Running the Max (1993) ... Barton 'Weasel' Wyzell
- Tommy A (1993) ... Barton 'Weasel' Wyzell
- Weasel Love (1993) ... Barton 'Weasel' Wyzell
- Swap Meet (1993) ... Barton 'Weasel' Wyzell
- Good-bye Megan (1993) ... Barton 'Weasel' Wyzell
Show all 13 episodes
Hide HideSelf (2 credits)
2017 WGN Morning News (TV Series)
Himself
- Episode dated 16 March 2017 (2017) ... Himself
1999 60 Minutes (TV Series documentary)
Himself - Visually Impaired Person (segment "The Eyes")
- You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown/The Pill/The Eyes (1999) ... Himself - Visually Impaired Person (segment "The Eyes")
Hide HideArchive footage (2 credits)
2000 60 Minutes (TV Series documentary)
Himself - Visually Impaired Person (segment "The Eyes")
- Testing, Testing, Testing/The Eyes/Hit List? (2000) ... Himself - Visually Impaired Person (segment "The Eyes")
1994 Saved by the Bell: The New Class (TV Series)
Barton 'Weasel' Wyzell
- The Class of 2020 (1994) ... Barton 'Weasel' Wyzell (uncredited)
Edit
Personal Details
Publicity Listings: 1 Interview | 1 Article | 1 Pictorial | 1 Magazine Cover Photo | See more »
Official Sites: ABILITY Magazine Speaks with Isaac Lidsky
Edit
Did You Know?
Personal Quote: I'm not out to set records, and I've been very fortunate in my life. For many others with vision impairment, it's a different story. See more »
Trivia: Lost his vision gradually between the ages of 13 and 25. Could still see shapes and colors in his late 20s and was able to play poker by having a bright light that shined on his cards. See more »
Isaac Lidsky
Author, entrepreneur
TED Speaker
TED Attendee
lidsky.com Eyes Wide Open
Isaac Lidsky has a very eclectic resume.
Why you should listen
Lidsky runs a big construction services company based in Florida, has co-founded an Internet startup and a nonprofit and is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). He graduated in math and computer science from Harvard and then added a law degree magna cum laude from the same university, clerked for US Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and argued a dozen cases in federal court on behalf of the US Justice Department, not losing any. Earlier, he was a child television star in both commercials and series.
Lidsky's rich biography disguises a secret, which can be summarized in the title of his forthcoming book Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities In A World That Can’t See Clearly.
Gain the vision to shape your life deliberately, with awareness and accountability.
About Isaac Lidsky
“Isaac Lidsky may possess the most eclectic resume in business. Over the years, he has been a child television star (he played series regular “Weasel” on NBC’s “Saved By The Bell: The New Class”), a Supreme Court clerk (for Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg), and the co-founder of an internet startup. More recently, Lidsky has used his gift for logistics to build ODC Construction into one of the fastest-growing construction businesses,” transforming an unsophisticated $11 million concrete subcontractor that was hemorrhaging money into an industry-leading $150 million construction services company—in 5 years.”
-Inc. Magazine, The Incredibly Inspiring Journey of a Blind Entrepreneur, October 1, 2015.
Lidsky family Web
The full list of his accomplishments is far longer. Lidsky graduated from Harvard at 19 with an honors degree in mathematics and computer science. He graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude. As a U.S. Justice Department lawyer, Lidsky argued more than a dozen appeals in federal court on behalf of the United States and never lost a case. He founded a nonprofit organization to fund the development of treatments for blinding diseases and within 5 years grew it to a dozen cities nationwide and more than $5 million. The technology company he founded sold for $230 million.
In 2016 Lidsky set out to share with others his empowering approach to living and leading, and he was promptly recognized as a visionary thought leader. Penguin Random House acquired for publication his first book, Eyes Wide Open, and it hit the shelves as a New York Times best seller in March 2017. TED invited Lidsky to present a mainstage TED Talk at TEDSUMMIT 2016 in Banff, Canada, and it was viewed more than a million times in 20 days. Lidsky now speaks to and works with organizations around the world.
He has been recognized for his achievements dozens of times and his leadership is routinely sought after. He is an advisor to a $1+ billion tech “unicorn.” He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), the world’s premier peer network of chief executives and business leaders, and was tapped to lead the Orlando Chapter and to serve on the Regional Executive Committee for the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean. He was asked to join the Young Entrepreneur Council. He has been appointed to State leadership positions by the Governor of Florida and to a federal position by a U.S. Senator. He sits on the Board of the Florida Hospital For Children. He was named 1 of 4 Temple Bar Scholars by the United Kingdom’s Inns of Court and brought to London for a month-long idea exchange with UK Supreme Court Justices and leading barristers.
Perhaps most striking, Lidsky is only 37, and he is blind. Born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare degenerative disease of the retina, from age 12 to 25 he slowly lost his sight. As his bio makes clear, neither his youth nor his blindness have limited him, however.
This is true in his professional life and personal life alike. Isaac married Dorothy, the love of his life, in June 2004. In September 2010 she gave birth to their triplets, Lily Louise, Phineas and Thaddeus—collectively, “The Tripskys”—and in December 2015 baby Clementine completed the family. The six Lidskys live in Windermere, Florida.
Unsurprisingly, Lidsky has been featured in numerous national media, including Forbes, MSNBC, U.S. News & World Report, 60 Minutes, CNN, Voice of America, Business News Daily, Daily Business Review, Business Insider, Men’s Health, People Magazine, the National Law Journal, and the American Bar Association Journal. He is regularly asked by the media to provide his commentary on the construction industry, leadership and/or entrepreneurship. Invariably, his story shines through his commentary, and with his story, great inspiration.
Isaac Lidsky
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Isaac Lidsky
Born Isaac Jared Lidsky
July 30, 1979 (age 38)
Miami, Florida, U.S.
Alma mater Harvard, Mathematics and Computer Science
Occupation Author, speaker and CEO of ODC Construction
Notable work Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles And Recognizing Opportunities in a World That Can’t See Clearly
Spouse(s) Dorothy Johnston Lidsky (2004–present)
Isaac Lidsky (born July 30, 1979) is a corporate speaker, author and entrepreneur. Before losing his sight he played Weasel on NBC's Saved by the Bell: The New Class.[1] He is the only blind person to serve as a law clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court.[2] He currently serves as CEO of ODC Construction, a residential shell contractor in Florida.[3]
Contents [hide]
1 Early life and education
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 Other achievements
5 References
6 External links
Early life and education[edit]
Lidsky was born in and grew up in Miami. His parents were Jewish emigrants from Cuba.[4] A childhood actor, he was in a diaper commercial when he was six months old, and he went on to perform in more than 100 commercials. In 1993, when he was 13, he was cast as Weasel on NBC's Saved by the Bell: The New Class.[1] Also in 1993 he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a retinal degenerative disease that leads to progressive sight loss and blindness.[3]
Lidsky left Los Angeles in 1994 to attend college. He graduated from Harvard University in 1999 with an honors degree in mathematics and computer science. In 2001 he returned to Harvard to study law. Lidsky graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2004. While there, he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review and a Fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.[5]
Career[edit]
In June 1999 Lidsky founded an internet advertising technology startup with Joe Zawadzki. Originally named “ru4.com,” the company eventually became [x+1] and was acquired in 2015 for $230 million.[6] Lidsky left the company after two years to attend Harvard Law School.
After Law School, Lidsky clerked for Judge Thomas L. Ambro on the United States Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit.[7] He then joined the Appellate Staff of the Civil Division of the Justice Department. In two and a half years in that position, Lidsky argued more than twelve cases on behalf of the U.S. government in federal courts of appeal.
In 2008 Lidsky served as a Law Clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor [8] and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He is the only blind person to clerk for the Court.[2]
After a brief stint practicing law for a large international law firm, in 2011 Lidsky partnered with Harvard College roommate Zac Merriman to acquire a small business. They purchased the assets of Orlando Decorative Concrete, Inc. and created ODC Construction, LLC.[9][10] ODC Construction is a residential shell contractor. It builds the structural envelope of new homes, including the foundations, masonry, framing and trusses. In 2014, the company had $70 million in revenue.[11]
In 2014 Lidsky began speaking publicly about his experiences to corporations and organizations. In 2015 he sold his first book, Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities In A World That Can’t See Clearly, to Penguin Random House.[12] The book was listed on the Washington Post’s 10 books on leadership to read in 2017.[13] The book was published on March 14, 2017.
In 2016 TED invited Lidsky to present a main stage TED Talk at TEDSUMMIT 2016 in Banff, Canada.[14] The talk received a standing ovation.
Lidsky is a member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO), the Chapter Chair for the Orlando Chapter and a member of the Regional Executive Committee for the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean Region. He is also a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Council.
Personal life[edit]
Lidsky is on the Advisory Board of Hope For Vision.[10][15]
Lidsky met his wife Dorothy in 2002 when she was a senior at Harvard College studying art history and he was a first year law student. They married on June 13, 2004. On September 14, 2010, Dorothy gave birth to the couple’s triplets, Lily Louise, Phineas and Thaddeus.[16] On December 5, 2015 their fourth child was born, daughter Clementine. The family lives in Windermere, FL.
Other achievements[edit]
Tapped to lead the Orlando Chapter and to serve on the Regional Executive Committee for the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean.[17]
Appointed to State leadership positions by the Governor of Florida and to a federal position by a U.S. Senator.[17]
Sits on the Board of the Florida Hospital For Children.[18]
Named 1 of 4 Temple Bar Scholars by the United Kingdom’s Inns of Court and brought to London for a month-long idea exchange with UK Supreme Court Justices and leading barristers.[19]
Featured in numerous national media, including Forbes, MSNBC, U.S. News & World Report, 60 Minutes, CNN, Voice of America, Business News Daily, Daily Business Review, Business Insider, Men’s Health, People Magazine, the National Law Journal, and the American Bar Association Journal.[17]
Vision quest: one question for Isaac Lidsky
Jennifer Bleyer
Psychology Today. 50.3 (May-June 2017): p96.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Sussex Publishers, Inc.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/
Listen
Full Text:
Isaac Lidsky has lived many lives, with one constant overshadowing it all. As a child actor, he starred on the early '90s TV show Saved by the Bell: The New Class. He graduated from Harvard at 19, went on to Harvard Law School, and clerked for Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. He's now a father of four, including triplets, and the founder and CEO of a successful construction company. He's done it all while losing his sight. Lidsky is, most recently, the author of Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities in a World That Can't See Clearly.
WHAT HAS BLINDNESS TAUGHT YOU ABOUT PERCEPTION?
I have a degenerative retinal disease called retinitis pigmentosa that affects the photoreceptor cells of the retina. I was diagnosed when I was 13, and since my mid-20s, I've been blind as the proverbial bat.
Going blind gave me a peek behind the curtain at the brain's wizardry-and it showed me how the mind works. I literally saw how the massive predictive machine that is the visual cortex makes guesses about what's out there. Objects would seem to appear and disappear. There were very bizarre visual effects, and for me it shattered the illusion of sight. Then I said, "Wait a minute, what are the other things in my life that I'm perceiving as some external objective truth, that I'm really making up in my own mind?"
When first diagnosed, I was absolutely terrified. I didn't think that blindness was going to ruin my life-I knew it. My eye-opening realization-pardon the pun-was that my fear was a fiction. I realized I could make another choice.
The insights that I've gained from my blindness really aren't about disability. They're about the awesome power we all have, in every moment, to choose who we want to be and how we want to live our lives. Once you understand that, it's liberating, and it makes you accountable. We all face challenging circumstances that are beyond our control. What we make of those circumstances is completely our creation. We are all empowered to decide what reality we want to live.
Science is remarkable, and I am convinced that in the next 5 to 10 years, I will have a substantial amount of my sight restored. It's certainly exciting-I want to see my kids' faces very badly. But I'm totally happy and overwhelmed with gratitude for the life I live now, and I learned to live this way by going blind.
Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities in a World That Can't See Clearly
Success. (Mar. 2017): p83.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 R & L Publishing, Ltd. (dba SUCCESS Media)
http://www.successmagazine.com/
Listen
Full Text:
EYES WIDE OPEN
Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities in a World That Can't See Clearly
By Isaac Lidsky
The same year Isaac Lidsky was cast on the '90s sitcom Savea by the Bell: The New Class, he was diagnosed with retiniti pigmentosa, a condition that caused the gradual loss of his sight. Nonetheless, he earned a law degree at Harvard University, became the only blind law clerk in the history of the Supreme Court and now co-owns a construction business in Central Florida. A busy motivational speaker, he shares his insights on how to overcome fear, assumptions and discouragement to live with grace, humor and success. (March; TarcherPerigee; $26)
Learning to live and lead eyes wide open
Isaac Lidsky
Training. 54.2 (March-April 2017): p40.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Lakewood Media Group, LLC
http://www.trainingmag.com/content/about-us
Listen
Full Text:
We create our own realities. It's our ultimate power, and our ultimate responsibility. In every moment, we choose how we want to live our lives and who we want to be, whether we realize it or not.
Helen Keller said: "The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."
I disagree.
People live with things far worse than blindness. We all confront challenges--real or imagined; mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual; societal, internal, or familial. We can never truly walk proverbially in another's shoes, though we should imagine doing so to better understand his or her journey. Take that impostor's walk to judge or compare the burdens others face, however, and you quickly will become lost. Each of us lives his or her own reality, one unknowable to others. Besides, there but for the grace of God you go.
Blindness need not be so bad, anyway. I know because I'm blind, and it really isn't all that bad. I confront numerous problems of the practical sort, to be sure, but those practical problems have practical solutions. The discrete, concrete challenges of blindness are generally overrated by the sighted. As a blind comedian once said, "When you're blind and lazy, people think you're just blind."
But I couldn't see any of this when I could see. When I was diagnosed with my blinding disease at age 13, I would have disagreed with Helen Keller for an altogether different reason.
I had grown up with "normal" sight, and I was living a Hollywood fairy tale. A quasi-prodigy in school, I was a childhood actor on the side. Diaper commercial when I was six months old, about 150 more commercials as I grew up, big parts in small things, small parts in big things, then the lucky break: I was cast as series regular "Weasel" Wyzell on NBC's cult sitcom, Saved by the Bell: The New Class. I had the world in my hands.
Then there was a long day of strange eye exams at the University of Miami Medical School's Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and afterward, a short conversation with its expert, Dr. W. He informed me that I have a genetic disease that causes progressive loss of sight and ultimately blindness. Dr. W couldn't tell me how long it would take for me to lose my sight, but he did say there was no treatment or cure, and scientists knew little about the disease. Cold and clinical, he wished me the best of luck and went on his way in a matter of minutes. It was 1993, and I was 13.
Fear Fills the Void
I was terrified. Sitting in my mother's car for the long ride home, I struggled desperately to make some sense of the news and to forecast the implications for my life. I hadn't the slightest experience with blindness, no knowledge to draw upon, nothing by way of relevant information. No matter, fear filled the void.
We are creatures designed to find order in chaos, definition in ambiguity, certainty in a world of probabilities. We build up a vast database of experiences and design for ourselves rules and logic consistent with those experiences. We generalize, simplify, infer, predict.
The unknown is the domain that lies outside the database. By definition, we have no experience with the unknown and no rules or logic to understand it. That is why the unknown can be so problematic, especially in times of crisis.
Fear is familiarity's phony. It passes off what you dread for what you know, offers the worst in place of the ambiguous, serves up anxiety in the absence of comfort, substitutes assumption for reason. Under the warped logic of fear, anything is better than the uncertain. Fear makes awfulized prophesies of our ignorance, and entices us to passively watch those prophesies fulfill themselves.
Outsourcing Destiny
In my mother's car, I knew blindness would ruin my life. It was a death sentence for my independence; the end of achievement for me; a guarantee I'd live a small, unremarkable, lonely life. Ahead was weakness, vulnerability, dependence. Because I'd neither love nor respect myself, no woman would. Fatherhood thus would elude me, for the better--no child deserves a blind father, and in a sense, I'd always remain a child myself. I knew all of these things, and many more. It was a baseless reality born of my fears, but it was my reality in that car that day, and for years thereafter.
Living fear's reality, my life was a race against time, and I was on the sideline. I cheered for the brilliant researchers working to cure my disease, prayed they would outrun advancing blindness, insisted they would save me. Paralyzed by hope, I outsourced my destiny and watched with dismay and depression as the seconds ticked away.
Helen Keller could keep her vision. Nothing was worse than blindness. I knew it.
Shattering the Illusion
Then blindness opened wide my eyes. As my retinas progressively deteriorated, the passive experience of sight became something very different. For me, sight became difficult and exhausting, bizarre and frustrating. Objects appeared, morphed, and disappeared in my world as I consciously integrated clues and reasoned from evidence. I literally saw my mind's indomitable efforts to produce for me an immersive "truth," efforts that grew increasingly unhelpful and unreliable, until I could see nothing at all.
The experience shattered the illusion of sight for me. We say seeing is believing because we believe what we see. I learned, however, that far from "objective" or "universal," what we see is a complex mental construction of our own making--one that both shapes and is shaped by our conceptual understanding, other knowledge, memories, opinions, emotions, mental attention, and many other things. Sight is a reality manufactured in the brain, unique, personal, fallible. It doesn't feel that way, however; it feels "real."
With that insight, other illusions shattered, too. The illusions born of my fear of blindness, born of misunderstanding strength and weakness, born of misperceiving luck and success, born of futile efforts to find refuge from the heart in the mind. Having glimpsed the wizard behind the curtain, I learned to recognize his hand at work throughout my life, in self-limiting assumptions, faulty logic, bias and prejudice, insecurity, vanity, surrender, and countless other places.
We create our own realities. It's our ultimate power, and our ultimate responsibility. In every moment, we choose how we want to live our lives and who we want to be, whether we realize it or not. Blindness gave me the vision to see this, to make my choices with awareness and purpose, and to hold myself accountable for those choices.
It has brought me immeasurable joy, fulfillment, and success. I've served as a law clerk to two U.S. Supreme Court Justices, litigated appeals on behalf of the United States as a Justice Department attorney, built a successful Internet advertising technology business, and founded a nonprofit organization to fund scientific research. Today, I'm the proud father of four joyful, thriving children (triplets, plus one), the husband of a woman I admire and adore, and the CEO of a growing construction services company. I travel the world, sharing my eyes-wide-open vision with others, and I recently wrote a book called "Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities in a World that Can't See Clearly" (TarcherPerigee/Penguin Random House, March 14,2017).
Going blind was a blessing, one of the best things that ever happened to me. I lost my sight, but I gained a vision. It was a winning trade. I'd take my vision over sight any day; vision is better--on that much, Helen Keller and I can agree. ?
Isaac Lidsky is CEO of ODC Construction, Florida's largest residential construction services company, and author of "Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities in a World that Can't See Clearly" (TarcherPerigee; March 14, 2017). An entrepreneur and speaker, Lidsky's recent main stage TED Talk reached 1 million views in 20 days, and he was a keynoter at the recent Training 2017 Conference & Expo in San Diego.
Isaac Lidsky: in Eyes Wide Open, blind actor-turned-lawyer-turned-CEO Isaac Lidsky shares how to see beyond the limitations of past experiences and take charge of one's own reality
Publishers Weekly. 264.4 (Jan. 23, 2017): p21.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Listen
Full Text:
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
At only 37 years old, Isaac Lidsky has already had several remarkable and remarkably successful careers. He began in acting--his first role, at six months old, was in a diaper commercial, but his big break came in 1993 when he was cast as Weasel In Saved by the Bell: The New Class. That was also the year he was diagnosed with a degenerative disease that ultimately led him to completely lose his sight a decade later.
Meanwhile, Lidsky didn't feel at home in celebrity culture. He left L.A. to attend Harvard, graduating at 19 in 1999. Then he went on to Harvard Law School. The apex of his career in law was his time serving as a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg; he is the only blind person ever to serve in this capacity. But the legal work he landed in after that didn't feel right either.
After some soul searching and career counseling, Lidsky figured out that he was best suited to the challenges of a CEO role. So, with the help of a good college friend, Lidsky bought Orlando Decorative Concrete, a small Florida-based construction company, and quickly turned it into a hugely successful enterprise using the problem-solving skills, he'd been developing.
Lidsky did all of this--and got married and became a father of four--while progressively losing his sight and adapting to the tremendous challenges blindness presented him with. In Eyes Wide Open, Lidsky shares his story and his strategies for seeing reality clearly and taking responsibility for one's life by acknowledging that, blind or not, we create what we see from within. He talked with PW about his life and his book.
Why did you write this book, and whom do you feel will benefit most from it?
When I was diagnosed with my blinding disease, I believed blindness would ruin my life. I was very wrong. I lost my sight, but I gained the eyes-wide-open vision to define and create the life I want for myself, the life I live today. Losing my sight turned out to be a profound blessing. I wrote the book to share with others the vision I gained with blindness so that they, too, can choose to live and lead eyes-wide-open, choose to see what I see.
Do you have a piece of concise advice for someone eager to change their overall attitude toward life who doesn't know where to start?
It starts with honest introspection; we do ourselves great harm when we lie to ourselves. What are the differences between the way you want to live your life and the way you actually live it--the differences in terms of who you are, your career, how you treat others, how you allow others to treat you, how you spend your time, what you accomplish? Are you willing to take responsibility for those differences and do something about them? You must hold yourself accountable for your answers. Once you commit to the idea that you alone bear responsibility for your life, in every moment, the rest is straightforward.
Is there someone in your life you view as a model of living "eyes-wide-open"?
That's easy: Justice O'Connor. She is one of the most remarkable people I've ever met. It was an honor to work for her and to gain her as a mentor in my life. I have learned countless invaluable lessons from her. She embodies the very ideal of integrity--conforming your actions to your values. I think of her often when facing difficult decisions.
At only 37, you've already achieved so much. How was writing a book different? Why was this the right time to do it?
I've thought about these ideas for more than 20 years now. As my vision gained clarity, and impact in my life, the urge to share it with others grew steadily in me. I relived much of my life while writing--the pain, joy, love, fear, struggle, and triumph. At the same time, I became accountable for who I am and how I live my life to a far greater extent and with greater precision--accountable to myself, and to the people in my life who will eventually read the book.
THE VISIONARY
Denis Boyles
Men's Health. 31.4 (May 2016): p016.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Rodale, Inc.
http://www.rodale.com
Listen
Full Text:
Harvard Law grad, Supreme Court clerk, father of triplets, construction firm executive, former Weasel. And he's blind.
By Denis Boyles
ISAAC LIDSKY
Age 36
Hometown Miami, FL
Job Construction executive, author, speaker
Child Star
He did a diaper commercial at 6 months, and then more than 100 commercials. At age 13, he was cast as Barton "Weasel" Wyzell in Saved by the Bell: The New Class. "It made me more interesting to girls."
Harvard Law Review
By the time he reached law school, he was nearly blind from retinitis pigmentosa. "It was brutal. All the editing was done on paper. If I held my head just right and had great light, I could see what I was reading, but barely."
Supreme Court Clerk
He was the high court's first blind clerk (and so far the only one), working for Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "When I received my diagnosis, I made a commitment not to let it be an excuse."
Husband and Father
He met his wife, Dorothy, in law school. "I was starting to lose my vision, but I could see how beautiful she was. She still is. I can remember what she looked like then, and I can feel what she looks like now."
Boss Man
He and a friend bought a construction firm in Florida and anticipate doing $125 million in business this year.
Turn the page to see how Lidsky thrives.
((pullquote)):
"My kids get away with far less because I'm blind. I process sound more thoroughly."
The Giveback
Lidsky founded a nonprofit organization, Hope for Vision, that's dedicated to funding the development of cures for blinding diseases. He's also working on a book, Eyes Wide Open, and gives speeches on overcoming obstacles.
His Superpower
"Mine is the learned and cultivated discipline of separating unadorned reality from mental embellishment." In other words, he can see a reality that's not always visible to the rest of us.
Blind from Birth vs. Going Blind
"Which is 'better'? I'm certainly glad I had sight. I have visual memories and a visual understanding, like of the color red. That said, the experience of slowly losing my sight was vastly worse than being blind. Being blind isn't all that bad, but going blind was."
Your Life on a Cheap Jumbotron
"Going blind is terrifying. Who wouldn't be afraid of that? And for me, it wasn't simple. The world doesn't become instantly dark. It's like watching your life on a busted Jumbotron, where the bulbs break randomly over time, more and more. Objects faded and went in and out of existence. They changed and morphed. It gave me a peek behind the curtain of reality in ways that extend beyond sight."
How a Blind Guy Spots a Looker
"You can tell the pretty women in the room. A beautiful woman has a discernible energy, a feeling; you can hear it, that confidence. And you can hear the modulations in the voices of others around you. You sense their reactions. I mean, you can hear mannerisms in much the way you can see them."
The Face-Feel Thing
"It really works. You feel whatever's there: perky nose, wide-set eyes, all that. My wife embodies my ideal of a woman. But my two boys are identical twins. That can get confusing!"
Assessing a Child's Cry
"I actually listen to what they're saying, the words and meaning, as opposed to reacting to visual clues. Sometimes parents react to the atmospherics of a meltdown or anger and don't necessarily focus on what the kid is saying. Very often children are telling you what they need or what the problem is."
HOW TO BE A GUIDE FOR A BLIND STRANGER
1/ If a person looks uncertain, say your name and ask if you can help. If they have a dog, approach from the opposite side. 2/ Ask "Where to?" and offer an arm. 3/ Don't narrate a tour, but warn about obstacles and curbs. 4/ Be sure to say goodbye. Don't just walk off.
HOW TO DO A FULL-SENSE WORKOUT
Step 1 Close your eyes.
Step 2 Pay attention. One theory: With the extra brain bandwidth, your ears give you extra details because vision usually does so much work. You can hear doorways, sense open spaces, and know when you're in a confined space.
How to Match Your Socks
"I use something called Colorino. It's about the size of a remote. You hold it against a piece of clothing, and it tells you what color the clothing is."
Reading Blueprints in the Dark
"Dorothy and I are building a home. When we talk about the plans, she will take my finger and put it down on the blueprints and move it around, following the lines. I can sense size and scale. No sighted person could do this without practice."
Taking the Measure of a Meeting
"I enter with confidence and make it clear that I'd like to know who is in the room and where. I make an instant connection as I shake hands and get names. I often attend meetings in which people enter the room with timidity without getting names or making introductions. Perhaps I only notice it because I'm blind. If this is a sighted-person thing, I think it is a weakness."
The Upside of Being Blind
"This idea of being under-estimated. I mean, if I make it out of the house, I exceed most people's expectations. Everything else is just gravy."
((caption)):
Lidsky clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
((caption)):
Lidsky (white shirt) in Saved by the Bell: The New Class.
Want to nominate someone for these pages? Write to manslife@rodale.com.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY BOB CROSLIN
NBC/Getty Images (Saved by the Bell)
courtesy Isaac Lidsky (O'Connor)
MICHAEL BRANDON MYERS (illustrations)
How Can Going Blind Give You Vision?
TED Radio Hour. 2017.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 National Public Radio, Inc. (NPR). All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions page at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
http://www.npr.org/
Listen
Full Text:
To listen to this broadcast, click here:
Play audio
HOST: GUY RAZ
GUY RAZ: So before we get started, you were the guy who played Weasel Wyzell on "Saved By The Bell"?
ISAAC LIDSKY: That's right.
RAZ: Would you call that, like, the pinnacle of your achievements?
LIDSKY: I would call that an awful television show...
RAZ: (Laughter).
LIDSKY: ...That I had a lot of fun being on.
RAZ: Did you continue to act after that role?
LIDSKY: No. So around this time, by my mid-to-late teens, my sight was becoming a substantial nuisance. Probably by my early 20s it was a disability, and by the time I was 25 I was blind.
RAZ: Isaac Lidsky might have been on track to turn a successful run as a child actor into a lifelong thing, but at age 13 he was diagnosed with a genetic disease that caused the cells in his retina to progressively die off.
LIDSKY: So progressive deterioration of your sight and ultimately blindness. Sitting in the car on the way home from that doctor's office, I knew that blindness was going to completely ruin my life.
RAZ: You thought that at age 13?
LIDSKY: I didn't think it, I knew it. I knew it. It was my reality.
RAZ: But blindness didn't ruin Isaac's life. In fact, he ended up graduating from Harvard, he got a law degree, even worked for two different Supreme Court justices. And today, he runs his own successful business. But back when he was a kid, to see that path forward, Isaac had to grapple with what it meant not to see at all. Here's Isaac Lidsky on the TED stage.
(SOUNDBITE OF TED TALK)
LIDSKY: What does it feel like to see? You open your eyes and there's the world. Seeing is believing, sight is truth, right? Well, that's what I thought. Then from age 12 to 25, my sight became an increasingly bizarre carnival fun house hall of mirrors and illusions. Objects appeared morphed and disappeared in my reality. It was difficult and exhausting to see. I pieced together fragmented transitory images until I saw nothing at all. I learned that what we see is not universal truth, it is not objective reality. What we see is a unique personal virtual reality that is masterfully constructed by our brain.
Let me explain with a bit of amateur neuroscience. Your visual cortex takes up about 30 percent of your brain, that's compared to approximately 8 percent for touch, and 2 to 3 percent for hearing. Sight is one-third of your brain by volume, and can claim about two-thirds of your brain's processing resources. It's no surprise then that the illusion of sight is so compelling. Well, make no mistake about it, sight is an illusion. A hill appears steeper if you've just exercised, and a landmark appears farther away if you're wearing a heavy backpack. You create your own reality, and you believe it. I believed mine until it broke apart. The deterioration of my eyes shattered the illusion.
You see, sight is just one way we shape our reality. We create our own realities in many other ways. Let's take fear as just one example. Your fears distort your reality. Psychologists have a great term for it - awfulizing, right? Fear replaces the unknown with the awful. When I was diagnosed with my blinding disease, I knew blindness was a death sentence for my independence. It was the end of achievement for me. Blindness meant I would live an unremarkable life, small and sad and likely alone. I knew it. This was a fiction borne of my fears, but I believed it. If I had not confronted the reality of my fear, I would have lived it, I am certain of that.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RAZ: So how did your reality change?
LIDSKY: So, you know, I tell the story of the first time that I visited with a low vision and, you know, and blind occupational therapist - a vision rehabilitation specialist. And she started to talk about all these practical solutions for discrete problems, and in the back of my mind I was actually a bit frustrated.
RAZ: You were thinking, yeah, I don't really want to hear this.
LIDSKY: Yeah. You know, yes, I bump into things, yes, maybe I should learn to use a cane, but, you know, that's almost arbitrary. Like, I'm here to talk about blindness, this amorphous bogeyman that's going to ruin my life. You know, I'm not here to talk about these practical details. And then it really hit me that there is no amorphous bogeyman. There is no overarching, you know, doom and gloom. All it is is these practical problems that she wants to talk about, and that was a major change for me.
I decided right there that whenever I felt afraid, I'd ask myself two questions - what precisely is my problem, and what precisely can I do about it? You know, I knew blindness was going to ruin my life, but that was a reality that I was choosing, that my mind had created for me, and I was choosing to believe. And I decided to make another choice.
RAZ: You know, vision - right? - I mean, it's such a powerful and dominant sense. I mean, it overpowers our other senses.
LIDSKY: Well, there's no doubt that we are inherently visual creatures, and it dominates our mental capacity and our processing power. And in some ways it does that I think to our great detriment, you know, at least in a couple ways. There's a lot more going on in the world around us than light striking the photoreceptor cells of our retinas, but we are built to certainly devote, you know, an inordinate share of our attention to that light.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
LIDSKY: At the end of the day, our photoreceptor cells respond to about one-ten-trillionth of the spectrum of light in the world around us. And from that one-ten-trillionth of light flying around, our brains concoct this scenario that implicates our memories, our opinions, our emotions, our experiences, sort of conceptually how we understand that world. And then we believe that that is what the world, quote, unquote, "looks like."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
LIDSKY: The assumption we make is that the entire point of our visual system, the way it's constructed, you know, its goals are to represent the world around us accurately.
RAZ: Yeah
LIDSKY: It turns out, science is starting to show us, that that's not true. The point of sight is to be useful to us in the same evolutionary way that we endeavor to, you know, fulfill objectives of, you know, procreation and survival. So the system isn't even designed to represent the information accurately, it's designed to be helpful in the evolutionary goals.
RAZ: How much of our reality, of what we see, is an illusion?
LIDSKY: So I would argue all of it. To me, it's more about choosing what reality you want to live for yourself. So this really was the profound insight that really made losing my sight a great blessing in my life. I felt I was living a race against the clock, a race against time, a race against blindness until I decided to really take control of my own reality.
(SOUNDBITE OF TED TALK)
LIDSKY: My point today is not about my blindness, however, it's about my vision. Going blind taught me to live my life eyes wide open. It is a learned discipline. It can be taught. It can be practiced. I'll summarize very briefly. Hold yourself accountable for every moment, every thought, every detail. See beyond your fears, they are your excuses, rationalizations, shortcuts, justifications, your surrender. Choose to see through them, choose to let them go. You are the creator of your reality. With that empowerment comes complete responsibility. I chose to step out of fear's tunnel into terrain uncharted and undefined. I chose to build there a blessed life, far from alone with Dorothy, my beautiful wife, with our triplets whom we call the tripskies (ph)...
(LAUGHTER)
LIDSKY: ...And with the latest addition to the family, sweet baby Clementine. Helen Keller said that the only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision. For me, going blind was a profound blessing because blindness gave me vision. I hope you can see what I see. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
RAZ: That's Isaac Lidsky, his book about this is called "Eyes Wide Open." You can see his full talk at ted.com.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities in a World that Can’t See Clearly
Isaac Lidsky. TarcherPerigee, $26 (320p) ISBN 978-0-14-312957-8
Lidsky, an entrepreneur and former child actor (best known for his role on Saved By the Bell: The New Class) thoughtfully urges a greater appreciation of the world around us, based on his experience of losing his sight between the ages of 13 and 25. “Going blind is the blessing that showed me how to live [with] my eyes wide open,” says Lidsky, who inherited the condition of retinitis pigmentosa. “You must keep a vigilant watch for your self-limiting assumptions,” he counsels. Lidsky took his own advice and ended up graduating from Harvard at age 19, later also earning a Harvard law degree and clerking for the U.S. Supreme Court. He tells readers not to let anyone else determine how they see themselves. Lidsky also discusses the fine line between accepting and surrendering to one’s situation. Woven throughout are “fishing trips,” memorable moments with takeaways; for example, he considers the fragility of plans, first demonstrated when he and his wife Dorothy discovered they were expecting triplets, and then when one of the babies proved to have a potentially fatal heart problem in utero. This master class in counting one’s blessings will stay with readers long after the final page is turned. (Mar.)
Review: Eyes Wide Open by Isaac Lidsky
Michelle Bowles February 19, 2017
As I read Eyes Wide Open, all I could think about was how not a day in my life to come will I ever complain about anything that I can't do. That word will be completely erased from any possibilities that I even hesitate to attempt. This is the type of book that I hope would be the catalyst for any ambitions that you have been held back by whether it was fear or lack of confidence to see that there is literally nothing that can hold you back to achieving the life you want but yourself.
We, those who are fortunate to have all their senses functional, take for granted what we have. In so many lives, we are limited, held back or just don't to work towards achieving goals just because. When you have people like Isaac, who gradually lost his sight to blindness and has led the life he has, there is no excuse for anyone for any reason, at any time.
I'm truly moved and inspired by his candor, his introspective acceptance towards his limitations but at the same time not allowing it to cripple his life. This insightful book gives readers a voice and perspective that needs to be heard and his experience to be seen a triumph not a tragedy. Losing his sight at such a prime age and contemplating such loss, as Joel Osteen would say he became “a victor, not a victim.” He found love, graduated from Harvard, worked as a clerk for the Supreme Court and revitalized a business that led to such great success.
Eyes Wide Open, is thought provoking, insightful drawing on his experience giving some great advice on how to overcome our obstacles. Reading this book through his perspective will definitely give you some food for thought and hopefully broaden your mind to endless possibilities and a renewed spirit for hope.