The furthest William Bowman has ever traveled to attend a speaking engagement was to Chicago.

It’s the first time that Bowman, who is legally blind and has had three cornea transplants, ever flew on a plane. But, one of the best parts about his trip was seeing how accessible the city is to the physically handicapped.

He was on a bus traveling through the city when the driver stopped to allow a man in a wheelchair to get on.

He said that the driver left her seat and assisted the man into his seat after he boarded through a ramp that was lowered to let him in.

Then, she resumed her duties without making a big deal about it.

When he was finished with his speaking engagement, Bowman returned to Selma, where the attitude is vastly different.

As president and CEO of V.I.P. Organization, he is trying to change the way people here in Selma look at the blind and visually impaired people in Dallas County.

Lately, he is doing this by going around to area schools, giving talks about being handicapped and what help is available out there to those who need it.

Bowman quickly admits that talking to schoolchildren is one of his favorite activities.

So far this week, he has done one talk at Knox Elementary. He will do another talk at Knox today and will also speak at Kingston Elementary.

As part of his speaking engagements, Bowman does a series of presentations that are designed to motivate his audiences.

He also lets people know about the technology that is out there to assist visually impaired people such as talking watches and calculators and software that enlarges type on computer screens.

For those interested in wanting Bowman to speak at their school or function, they can contact him at 875-1244.