Into the Darkness

You grew up the youngest of eight children in Indiana. You were in the third grade when you were diagnosed with macular degeneration. And I'm wondering, how did blindness affect your life and your attitude around coping with difficulties and setbacks?

As a young person I learned to adapt. So agility was certainly an important thing. I probably didn't always adapt quick enough but tried to gain the kind of necessary skills to find my own version of success. Those skills range from life skills to technical school and skills to my education. And then I think that ability to work with others was probably an important ingredient for me. But as a blind person the environment wasn't always conducive for only my change. It also took me working with the people around me to affect some environmental change. It could be as simple as in college, getting the kind of resources that I needed to work through my classes. It was kind of pre the tech age and the computers. So it was really about working with other resources on campus. And then I had great role models in terms of my parents who advocated for me and then role model that for me so I knew how to advocate a little bit for myself.