Patrick grew up on Long Island in New York and is the youngest of five children and the only Deafblind in his family. One of his nieces is a non-signing Deaf adopted from China. Mainstreamed all his life, he graduated from a mainstream high school in 2006 then moved to North Carolina in the Charlotte area with his parents (his siblings already there). He then graduated with a BA in American Sign Language with a minor in Business Administration in May 2015 from Gardner-Webb University of Boiling springs, NC.
In his spare time, Patrick has completed several 70.3 Ironman Triathlons, competed in open water swims, walked 56 miles for the National MS Society, performed with 100 other dancers for a Zumba Halftime for the Charlotte Hornets, among other accomplishments.
Today, Patrick by day is a chef and by night a web developer. In addition to running his own food and consulting business ILY by Tricio, he works as a catering chef at both Target Field and Target Center. As a web developer his main focus is finding creative ways to make the Web accessible to persons with disabilities.
Recently, Patrick was also appointed to the State Rehabilitation Council for the Blind as the DeafBlind Community Representative.
“I’m excited to be a contractor for the Commission since 2019 as part of the Outreach and Civic Engagement Team because we strive to network with the community in order to advocate for communication access and increase awareness of voters’ rights, how to lobby and the general legislative process, as well as facilitating focus groups.” - Patrick Vellia
