President Trump appoints Indy-born veteran to federal commission helping employ blind and disabled

INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis-born army veteran Jeffrey Mittman sits with his hands intertwined. A scar can be seen in place of his right index finger. These are the hands of a hero.

”I went off and spent 22 years in the army,” Master Sergeant Mittman said. “I did four combat tours, but on my last combat tour I was ambushed.”

An explosive device robbed Mittman of his sight. He woke up in a hospital bed a month later.

“[I] couldn’t see, I couldn’t speak,” Mittman said. “I had a trachea on me and I was tied to the bed.”

More than 40 surgeries were performed to mend his injuries, but his vision was gone forever.

“I never thought [that] the first blind person I ever met was myself,” Mittman said.

Surgeons rebuilt his face as he worked to rebuild his life.

”I think the military in me, the military man, the training took over,” Mittman said. “At that point, I had a mission.”

A devoted family man, Mittman worked for a non-profit and the government before finding his way to Bosma Enterprises in Indianapolis. Mittman is the company’s first legally blind CEO, who works to train and employ more than 50% of blind people facing unemployment.

“It’s an honor for me to watch what people can do when given the opportunity,” Mittman said.

His work earned him one of the four private citizen appointments to the U.S. AbilityOne Commission. Similar to Bosma, AbilityOne provides employment opportunities for people who are blind or significantly disabled.

“My role as the CEO of Bosma and now as an AbilityOne Commissioner is to set the example what blind people can do,” Mittman said. “… If I have the technology and I have the computers and I have everything that’s available to me, it equalizes that playing field and I could do any job that you can do.”

AbilityOne employs about 40,000 disabled Americans to make products for the federal government. It’s not something Mittman realized he’d benefited from until recently.

“The padding inside that helmet that saved my life and protected my head when I was hit by that bomb blast was actually created by one of the agencies in the AbilityOne program,” Mittman said.

From battlefield to boardroom, the role is a full-circle moment for the retired soldier. Mittman said he looks forward to continuing to show that a lack of sight doesn’t mean a lack of opportunity.

“It’s important to represent [the blind and disabled] and it’s a great honor, one of the great honors of my life,” Mittman said.