I open my eyes but see nothing. I feel the smooth marley floor under my feet and gently move my toe over the tactile marker on the ground. The music begins to play, and light begins to flood my field of vision. For a moment, I am disoriented. I take a few steadying breaths and begin to move. I trust my body. I trust my knowledge of the stage. I allow my proprioceptive instincts to carry me; these instincts let me know how far and which direction I move. With…
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For the past 12 years I have experienced sight loss through macular degeneration. When the pandemic hit last year, I found myself with time on my hands and decided to journal my journey with this life challenge in the form of a podcast called Insensitive. So I have been busying myself with the latest episode. Ahh ha, now I’ve got your attention haven’t I? A podcast! When I was in my early 40s, I started having difficulty with my sight. I have had high myopia (severe near-sightedness that, if left…
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My name is Ana Cristina and I’m a deafblind jewelry designer. I am 40 years old and I haven’t ever felt as blessed and complete as I do now. But it took me some time to get here, and this is my story. The long road to diagnosis It was 2 p.m., our calculus professor wrote an equation on the board for us to compute mentally: no papers, no calculators. Just our eager young competitive brains crunching out numbers, because whoever won this round got extra credit plus pizza. I…
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I’m almost blind, with eyesight of 1%. When I try writing on my smartphone using the common touchscreen, it takes forever. I’m sure you know this feeling! Also, I’m always short on time. For example, when I get up in the morning and would like to answer some important messages or emails first thing, it could lead to me missing my train or subway to work. Naturally I’m aware of the dictation function on my smartphone and the possibility of using the braille input, but I don’t think anybody feels…
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I’m Jon Marin, author of the soon-to-be-released book See Us, a photographic journey that follows six visually impaired young adults as they balance their lives among work, home, and school in New York City. I had the pleasure of connecting with these students during their time at Career Discovery Project, the program I lead at City Access New York. Building a career program that works for students When I was informed that I would take over the Career Discovery Project in 2014, I was petrified. Too many negative thoughts were…
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When I was really young, I knew I was going to grow up to be the next great Boston sports athlete. I was thinking Mo Vaughn or Drew Bledsoe. Mind you, this was back when we loved our teams but they never won anything. My dreams changed when I was eight years old and I began to lose my vision. It started in my left eye, then moved to my right. By the time I reached middle school, my dream of playing professional sports came to a sharp end. For…
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I have always been so curious about how the world works. I remember I had a keen mind for deduction even when I was a young kid, listening to audiobooks of Sherlock Holmes. The detective said he could tell the height of a person by listening to his or her footsteps. I became more inspired and more interested in science by watching The Magic School Bus and Bill Nye the Science Guy and then by the work of Marie Curie and my mentors throughout my journeys. I loved all I…
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What a year, huh? The good news is that, even with everything that’s happening out there in the real world, we have a strong, supportive community to help us keep it together and keep going here in the #BlindNewWorld. As always, we wanted to take an opportunity to reflect on and highlight all of the incredible stories that have been shared with us this year. 2020 brought us personal insight from artists, musicians, athletes, innovators, actors, scientists, content creators, professionals, bright young adults, chefs, rock-star parents – as well as…
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My name is Bryce Weiler. I was born almost four months premature, and shortly after my birth – due too much light or oxygen in the hospital – I developed an eye condition called retinopathy of prematurity, which caused me to become blind. Today, I’m the cofounder of The Beautiful Lives Project, a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities across the United States live their dreams in sports, performing arts, visual arts, nature and more. A Lifelong Love of Sports… During my time at the University of Evansville from 2010 through…
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My name is Jared. I was born blind with no useful vision. Today, I am employed full-time as a Senior Software Engineer – a job I couldn’t do if I hadn’t learned braille. I am also married and a father to two young children, both of whom are sighted. Because I can read braille, I am able to read them bedtime stories and pass along to them my love for the written word. My parents and teachers deserve much of the credit for my being braille-literate today. They insisted that…
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