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By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Cynthia Hirakawa, a customer-service specialist who has
worked at the local IRS office for 26 years, has been
chosen for the prestigious Secretary of the Treasury award

Blind IRS
employee to be
honored in D.C.

She says she'll 'sightsee'
on her trip by hearing,
feeling and smelling

By Pat Gee
Star-Bulletin

Cynthia Hirakawa has been blind since birth, but she still plans to go sightseeing in Washington, D. C., after she accepts a prestigious award Wednesday for her exemplary service as an employee of the Internal Revenue Service.

The 26-year IRS customer-service specialist is one of two receiving the Secretary of the Treasury Award presented annually to department workers who have made important contributions and reflect its highest ideals.

Hirakawa was surprised to receive the award, and a free trip to accept it, since there are many other blind IRS workers in the Treasury Department. In 1973 she went through five months of training in a program in Little Rock, Ark., to learn how to use specially designed equipment for the blind, including a computer with a voice synthesizer and Braille display.

Hirakawa modestly said that the award "should be a group thing. Without the support of my co-workers, I wouldn't be able to function."

But her boss, Rebecca Nadler, begs to differ. In nominating Hirakawa for the award Nadler wrote: "Customers at the counter, are, for the most part, astounded at her technical skills and ability to perform her job."

Nadler also cited Hirakawa's superior listening and evaluation skills in solving complex problems and her expertise in tax law changes. An articulate speaker, Hirakawa is a trained instructor of IRS classes on technical matters and the law.

But before there were any "talking calculators," Hirakawa learned to do simple mathematics on a modified abacus. She still uses one every day because it's faster and easier at times.

The only things she can't do are take in cash, verify signatures and read forms for clients who cannot read because of age or language barriers. That's when she asks for help.

Hirakawa said although she has taken group tours by herself, she will be accompanied to Washington by her sister, June Masao, and her nephew, Micah.

She plans to see places like Williamsburg and Monticello by "hearing descriptions, feeling the atmosphere, the heat, noticing the smells, feeling the wind," or hearing how sounds bounce off the ceilings and walls.