My name is Begoña Manterola and I’m from San Sebastian in the Basque Country of North Spain. I used to work as a hairdresser. When I was 35, doctors told me I had Retinitis Pigmentosa – but it wasn’t until I was 50 that I had to stop working because I was becoming completely blind. Since then, I have focused my life on reinforcing my personal growth. I do theatre, yoga, Pilates and hiking. Recently, I decided to tackle a new adventure – snowshoeing. On this trip, we snowshoed…
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My three children, two sons and a daughter, are typical teenage kiddos. They go to public school. They play sports. They have friends. They often stay up too late, keep their rooms quite messy, and talk back to me every now and again. Yep, pretty typical. But my kiddos also each have a certain, not-so-typical aspect that makes them, well, them. Many people describe my children as extraordinary. But I don’t. High achievers? Yes. Resilient? You bet. But extraordinary? No. However, it is my expectations for them and their expectations…
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My name is Kai Owens, and I have an aggressive form of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). RP is a form of vision loss that causes night blindness, blind spots known as scotomas, and loss of central acuity and peripheral vision. After being diagnosed in the third grade, I began learning braille, typing, and screen reading computer software – and I decided that no matter what happened, I wasn’t going to let it stop me from doing what I wanted to do. Ever since I was a young kid I have been…
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According to the National Federation of the Blind, there are an estimated 7 million Americans with a visual disability. And according to the World Health Organization, there are 285 million visually impaired people worldwide. That means there are many people out there who are searching for solutions to help them live more independently. We’re lucky to live in a world where the advancements in technology are outstanding. There is a lot of work and research being done to find ways to improve life for partially sighted and blind people. Reading and recognition devices are…
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Vicky is our four-year-old girl and she is losing her sight due to a rare genetic condition called Leber Congenital Amaurosis. And I would like to take a moment to thank her. I have redrafted this post many times, writing and rewriting all the little things I thank Vicky for. No words seem to capture all emotions and feelings. The truth is simple: I want to thank Vicky for what she’s teaching us. When you hug me strongly and tell me “Mummy, I love you sooooooo much,” you are teaching…
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More than half of Americans say they have not seen a blind person. At BlindNewWorld, we think it’s time for all of America to see the 7 million blind and visually impaired people in the U.S. living their lives to the fullest. The #BlindSelfie Sweepstakes asks our blind community and friends to post a selfie on Instagram or Twitter with the hashtags #BlindSelfie and #BlindNewWorld. Don’t forget to include image descriptions with your post! It’s time for Americans to change the way they see – and what’s more American than a…
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My story is probably pretty boring to some. I am a husband, father and content creator who just happens to be visually impaired. I spend my days at home, making sure my kids are taken care of, making podcasts and videos, preparing dinner and so forth. It’s not the most exciting life, but it is my life. And, I think it displays what being a VIP is all about. It’s more than trying to do “amazing” things as a blind person. It is about getting up every day and living…
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We all have those definitive moments, those HUGE moments, in life when you just know things will forever be divided into before and after. Meeting our daughter Primrose was one of those moments. Our family of four became a family of five through international adoption in January 2016. We saw a photo and description of our daughter on a Facebook adoption advocacy group and instantly fell in love. The photo showed her as an infant, her eyes the most piercing silver/blue – and the description included her diagnosis, blindness from…
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My name is Adam – I’m 24 years old and have been blind since birth. Since the fall of 2016, I have worked at Mercedes-Benz of Boston and in the corporate office for Herb Chambers, a company with 56 dealerships that sell and service a wide variety of foreign and domestic vehicles across New England. The dealership where I work in Somerville, Massachusetts, is one of three Mercedes-Benz dealers in the Herb Chambers group. I have been interested in cars since I was in preschool. I have always been curious…
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My name is Julia and my roots are in Zumarraga, a small town close to San Sebastian in the Basque Country, north of Spain. I’m 51 years old and a member of the Spanish National Association of Blind People (ONCE). Since I was 8, I have had progressive myopia magna – this means I only have frontal vision. I don’t have reflections and I have a very short visual field. I inherited this from my mother. Each year since then, I have been losing vision, some years more than others….
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