For Ollie Cantos, West Covina's first blind City Council member, optimism and inclusion matter most
Ollie Cantos is the first blind council member for West Covina and the second in US history in West Covina on Friday, January 13, 2023. Photo by Li...
Ollie Cantos is the first blind council member for West Covina and the second in US history in West Covina on Friday, January 13, 2023. Photo by Libby Cline-Birmingham, Contributing Photographer Throughout his life, Ollie Cantos says he's endured his share of bullying, unfairness and other challenges that accompanied being blind since birth. Such obstacles, West Covina's first blind City Council member said, thickened his skin — but didn't harden his heart. Cantos — also the council's first member of Filipino descent — landed in the city in 1974 at age 4 after his family emigrated to the U.