Austin Founder Lions Club

"While limited vision was a struggle, it became my blessing"

  • 22 Apr 2021
  • 12:25 PM - 1:15 PM
  • via Zoom

"While limited vision was a struggle, it became my blessing"

DATE: April 22, 2021  12:30 pm via Zoom


 Ofelia Zapata
Introduced by Lion Roberto Martinez

About our Speaker:

       Ofelia Maldonado Zapata grew up in Austin, one of 8 children. She had sight problems all her life but didn’t realize it for years. When she was taken to the eye doctor in third grade, the professional diagnosed Ofelia as clumsy. “I got spanked for being clumsy,” she remembers.

        After graduation from Travis High School, Ofelia immediately went to work for the state. The extent of her visual issues wasn’t discovered until she sought a driver’s license in her early 20s. She had trouble believing the doctor when he said she was going blind from Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare, inherited degenerative eye disease.

        Ofelia chose to hide her disability from everyone, even her family. She feared losing her husband, losing her job, losing everything.

        Now 60 and legally blind, Ofelia is the picture of a social justice warrior, with a long history of serving her community on multiple fronts. Though widowed at age 25, she raised the couple’s three daughters and later adopted a son.

        A longtime member of San Jose Catholic Church, she has served as president of its Social Justice Ministry for 12 years, and been on the Austin Interfaith Executive Team for 30 years. In addition, she has variously served as PTA/PTSA president at her children and grandchildren’s schools for three decades.

         Her affiliations with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid and Texas Legal Service Center both go back 18 years, either as board member or president of the board. More recently, since 2017, she has been involved with the National Legal Aid and Defenders Association and the National Center for Law & Economic Justice.

          For two years, she has been a housing leader and advocate with Texas Low-Income Housing; she is also a newly-elected AISD District 2 Trustee. Today, she continues to work on social justice issues, especially housing, education, immigration, job training and legislative advocacy.



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