By Ben Solis
Staff Writer
Posted: May 15, 2020 3:15 PM

Several years ago, while visiting New York City, Justice Richard Bernstein was involved in a catastrophic accident. A bicyclist had hit him in Central Park and he was hospitalized in Mount Sinai for more than 10 weeks.

The physical pain, he said, was excruciating, but the constant interaction with doctors and nurses uplifted his spirit. Human connection, he'll tell you, is what helps Mr. Bernstein thrive and survive in a world without sight.

With that in mind, the Supreme Court justice told me this week that the accident in New York, one that saw him hospitalized for more than two months, was in some ways more tolerable than the strange new world invoked by the presence of the new coronavirus.

"Even though I was in horrible physical pain, there was life," Mr. Bernstein told me. "There were visitors and people. There was such wonderful commotion. People brought instruments and played music. That was easier than this because there were so many people in my room. This inability to have that connectivity with people is, for someone like myself, it's hard to describe the difficulties that come along with it."

Over the period of an hour, Mr. Bernstein and I discussed his transition to an all-virtual work environment and what that means for his experience as a blind professional navigating an unknown world.

But the bulk of the conversation hinged on his personal experience as a blind man dealing with the strain of isolation, a circumstance that runs counter the way he's lived his entire life thus far.

For him, the energy of a bustling subway station or a crowded restaurant fuels his spirit. A meaningful connection with someone, even if just for a few minutes, he said, is literally how he understands the entire universe.

Being deprived of interaction with people – which he said was one of the main things that keeps him happy and spiritually healthy – has been a uniquely painful experience. There's also the fact that many of the ways we've all been interacting with the outside word, everything from food delivery apps, telemedicine and Zoom calls to colleagues, family and friends, are by and large inaccessible to some people with physical disabilities.

Mr. Bernstein asked me to specifically highlight those difficulties in an upcoming feature story. He hoped that our conversation could influence Lansing lawmakers and business owners to better understand how hard this has been particularly on people with disabilities.

I was happy to oblige, because it's a story that can easily get lost in the constant flow of news surrounding the pandemic, and most of all, because people with disabilities deserve a voice in how the state responds to COVID-19.