Perseverance in Profile
KAREEM A. DALE, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT ON DISABILITY POLICY BY TOM CALARCO
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areem Dale casts an imposing fi gure on the podium. Well over six feet tall, with broad shoulders like a linebacker, he exudes confi dence and commands attention despite his soft-spoken demeanor. Legally blind,
Dale walks slowly with a cane, the result of a genetic condition, retinitis pigmentosa, which leads to total blindness. Yet the 38-year-old attor- ney’s life is anything but dark. T e special assistant to the president on disability policy, he rolls with the punches and makes no excuses. “I also have two other eye diseases,”
he says. “All my diseases are incur- able, and they worsen as I get older. I only have a very small percentage of my sight remaining. I deal with my disability like millions of persons with disabilities—I make no excuses, don’t want sympathy or empathy from anyone, never feel sorry for myself, expect excellence from myself, and continue to pursue my dreams.”
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Dale, who was raised in Chicago, comes from a family
of high achievers. Both his mother and his brother are attor- neys, but Dale says they never infl uenced his decision to go into law. Rather, he says, their concern was that he pursue a career that made him happy, and that he work hard to become successful in his chosen fi eld. For a time, he thought of acting. “I got involved with the Black Ensemble T eater of
Chicago because my father was a supporter of the theater, and the founder of the theater is a lifelong family friend,” he says. “I consider myself a good actor and it was my fi rst love.” When asked if he also is a gifted singer like Stevie
Wonder, as suggested during one of his speaking engage- ments, he laughs. “T at is funny,” he says. “I am defi nitely not an accom-
plished singer—in fact, I am virtually tone-deaf.” While in his junior year at the University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign, where he earned a degree in advertis- ing, he decided to give up his desire to become a profes- sional actor. “Reality struck,” he says, and he decided to go to
law school. He took a leadership role at the University of Illinois
College of Law and became president of the Black Law Students Association. It was there that he reached out to then state Senator Barack Obama and asked him to speak at
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