Losing Sight Fast

When I was in my last semester in college, both of my eyes hemorrhaged. I had to drop out because I had no idea how to finish school or get on with life with sight loss. I moved to the Midwest to receive medical attention and lived with a family who cared for me. I was completely dependent on them. I could do little but knit and wait around for people to take me places and do things with and for me.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a lot of energy and my brain is always going a mile a minute. I had many minutes to think about my life in the months that followed, sitting at home, sitting at the doctors and waiting for people to "do for me."

The dependence was not boding well with or for my soul. I knew nothing about the blind world or really the route I was to go. Doctors were the one who brought up braille and schooling. So, I went back to school and met one of the most incredible life changing people ever. He had been blind from birth, but had a vision and outlook so vast, even at 60 years old, that he inspired me on to do great things. He had been teaching all his life and was more advanced in technology skills than even the sighted people I knew. He kept up with the newest and best of teaching strategies and gave his students a vision for what they could do with life: My life. I got a vision for what I could do with my life.

So, many years later, here I am; A teacher of the Blind for over 23 years, teaching virtually all over the country. I clearly know that gaining blind skills along the way instead of having to stop your life completely to learn them is far better. The most important aspect of gaining blind skills along the way is you can skip that terribly depressed time you will go through when you do lose that remaining useable sight. Now my sight loss was unexpected and sudden, so there was not much I could do about that, but I can help those under my wing of guidance. I have seen students come to me in their teens that had lost sight progressively and were not taught any blind skills. They talk of death not life. I have been able to teach children from the beginning of their education who never go through the "death" talk because they always knew how they would do life as they lost their sight.

God can take things that Satan means for evil and turn them to Good. My eyes hemorrhaging became a blessing, as I would never have gotten into this field if not for that experience. My sight did return and I am thankful. This career has been incredibly life fulfilling and I hope to touch as many people as possible and give them a VISION for what they can achieve in life.