By Catherine Gordon (English *24)
The famous novelist Alice Walker once wrote, “Activism is my rent for living on the planet.”
If anyone in our region perfectly embodies these words, it is USC Upstate alumni Patrick Mack (English ’21). Mack majored in English literature, with a focus in disability studies, and minored in education. Currently a Braille instructor at the SC Commission for the Blind, Mack teaches literacy skills to adults, ages 26 to 74, with visual impairments.
One of Mack’s favorite aspects of this job is that he has the opportunity to watch students who speak English as a second language improve both their English and Braille skills. “It’s been really touching to be a part of their journey,” he said.
According to Mack , the SC Commission for the Blind has partnered with the state library and introduced a book club to his students. And because he previously worked at Boiling Springs Library as a Children’s Librarian Assistant, Mack was able to translate many of the skills he learned at the library—and in his classes at USC Upstate—into a unique curriculum for his current students.
“I’m offering them a lifelong skill. Literacy is the one thing that everyone needs in order to get a job, and to communicate their feelings and emotions,” Mack said.
Everywhere he goes, Mack advocates for increasing awareness of accessibility. During his time at Boiling Springs Library, he introduced noise-canceling headphones to students participating in the summer reading program because he felt it would help them remain focused. In addition to leading children ages 2 to 5 in story time and play time, Mack coordinated the homeschooling program, teaching children ages 6 to 12. He taught the older group Braille using play dough, and with some guidance from a deaf professor at SCC, Mack also provided them with lessons in American Sign Language (ASL) and disability etiquette.
“Being that microphone for my community has been a blessing, and that’s something I’m very grateful for. I’m very grateful for being in the position I’m in, to be able to open the library up to every single walk of life.”
Part of this mission—to make the library, and the world at large, more equitable—comes from Mack’s own experience as a student with disabilities. When Mack was very young, he was diagnosed with two visual disabilities: Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) and Myopia. “You won’t see me at night because I can’t see in the dark at all,” he shared.
During his early school years, Mack tried to conceal his accommodations and “pass.” He feared that if he used his tools at school, his classmates would bully him. “Asking for accommodations and being different as a kid was just terrifying for me. I tried to hide it like it was just not something I wanted to be a part of my little slices of pizza of identities,” he said.
“Being that microphone for my community has been a blessing, and that’s something I’m very grateful for. I’m very grateful for being in the position I’m in, to be able to open the library up to every single walk of life.”
–Patrick Mack
One day, Mack asked his high school resource teacher to increase the font size on his documents, and rather than comply with this request, she decided to give him larger print-outs. Eventually, Mack got tired of carrying the larger paper and decided to use his magnifier. Despite his fears that using the magnifier would subject him to bullying, his classmates took a genuine interest in it and began to ask him questions in good faith. “They became, somewhat, my advocate[s],” says Mack. When he moved to a new community for college, Mack realized he would have to become his own advocate–and an advocate for his peers.
When Mack is not busy with activism, his career as a Braille instructor, or his freelancing as a technical writer for Amazon, he likes to visit his local library in Columbia and spend the day reading. His favorite authors are Toni Morrison and Becky Chambers.
Mack has one piece of advice for current and prospective Upstate students: “Never give up. If it takes you three years or five years or six years, just keep going. Even once you obtain your [degree], continue to learn. Continue to pick up a book and read. Continue to go to networking events and trainings and connecting with other folks. There’s so much out there. Don’t limit yourself to that moment of frustration or challenge that you’re faced with.”
The young alum attributes much of his success, and his emotional intelligence, to the time he spent at USC Upstate, and if, as Alice Walker says, activism truly is rent, then Mack never misses a payment.