Hi everyone, I’m excited to introduce you to a new project by author Jon Marin. His new book, “See Us” is being released soon and it addresses a crucial factor in the lives of young people who are blind and visually impaired – finding meaningful work. Currently, in the US, 70% of blind and visually impaired people do not work. This is due to a variety of factors including prejudice, ableism, education, training and more, and Jon addresses several huge obstacles in his work as the Program Director of The Career Discovery Project. We can learn a lot from him and his clients in his new book “See Us.”
Continue reading “See Us: Overcoming Obstacles to Employment”Tag: parenting
It Takes a Village: Even in a Pandemic.
As the pandemic throws curve ball after curve ball and families and schools struggle to adapt we, at Navigating Blindness, are excited to launch our new series entitled “It Takes a Village.” Today we will hear from Sarah Immerfall as she explains what her son’s village looks like in the midst of a pandemic.
We’d love to hear from you too. If you’d like to share your story, please reach out for specifications using our contact form. Thank you!
Guest Post by Sarah Immerfall
Hi! My name is Sarah and my son, Siah, was born completely blind. He has a condition called Oculoauriculovertebral Syndrome that caused microphthalmia and he wears bilateral scleral shells. He just turned 4 and is finally past a lot of medical treatment for issues unrelated to his vision, and we are so excited to focus solely on his progress! Continue reading “It Takes a Village: Even in a Pandemic.”
Feel the Facts by Kai Owens (17)
To wrap up our month of braille literacy guest blogs, I’ve asked Kai to share his thoughts about braille literacy. Kai has helped several families, with children who are losing their sight, to understand how braille is helpful & relevant in 2020. Kai is now a college-bound senior in a mainstream, public high school and he is at the top of his class. Here’s what he wants you to know about braille.
Feel the Facts by Kai Owens
30% of all blind people are employed, which means 70% are not. 90% of the employed are braille readers. This means that if you do not read braille then there is only a 3% chance that you will be employed in your lifetime. THREE PERCENT!
So, for every 100 blind people who do not read braille there will be only 3 who are employed.
The Struggle is Real
I speak a lot about acceptance and how our family has adapted to our son’s sight loss from Retinitis Pigmentosa. However, I want to be real with you, I’m struggling right now.
We just returned from a visit to Duke Eye Center. Our youngest son, Kai, has previously been followed by Emory. We’ve visited Emory Eye Clinic 3 times over the last 7 years and they’ve run a number of tests and have run genetics tests twice. At the age of 10, Kai was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa. RP is a rod-cone dystrophy that causes a restriction in the visual field (think of looking through a tunnel) and eventually, in the late stages, causes the central vision to fail. RP is typically diagnosed later in life and is a typically slow progressing disease. Continue reading “The Struggle is Real”
Thriving Blind & Navigating Blindness: Acceptance & So Much More
From perceptions to prom to college — and everything in between — Kristin & Kim cover multiple topics about raising kids who are blind. Click here or on the image below to listen in on the chat/rant that follows no outline or schedule!
Please give us a like, share, follow or comment. Related links are included at the end of the post.
ps. This is my first video experience so please be kind. Yes, I know I blinked A LOT! lol. — Kim
Image is a link to the video along with headshots of Kristin & Kim.
Continue reading “Thriving Blind & Navigating Blindness: Acceptance & So Much More”
The Mystery of Acceptance
Happy New Year, friends.
I keep hearing that 2020 is the year of “#Acceptance” so today I’d like to respond to a question from a friend who asks: “You seem to have fully accepted Kai’s sight loss. How do you think you were able to do that?” Continue reading “The Mystery of Acceptance”
See, Strechay & Momoa
Hi everyone! This post was written by our boys — Kai who is 17 and legally blind and Cash who is 21 and typically sighted — about their recent travel to Canada to visit the set of the Apple TV+ original See! That’s right, they even got to meet Jason Momoa and watch a fight scene in a cave, as it was being filmed. (Season 1, Episode 6 – which aired this past weekend.) The post is wrapped up with comments from both dad and mom. Enjoy!
From Kai’s Perspective:
My brother Cash and I’s trip to Canada taught me so much and it was a great experience. We traveled to Vancouver to meet my mentor Joe Strechay, who is the blindness consultant on a new Apple+ TV show called See. Joe is an awesome guy who has helped me learn how to thrive with a visual impairment, so I was super excited about the trip. Continue reading “See, Strechay & Momoa”
On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! How Do You Keep Your Blind/VI Child Active & Safe?
by Kim Owens & Hilda Dunford (@OurBlindSide)
Many parents of children who are visually impaired or blind find it difficult to keep their children engaged in physical activities and sports. Hilda and I are often asked: How do you keep your child active and safe? Continue reading “On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! How Do You Keep Your Blind/VI Child Active & Safe?”
Hindsight 20/20 Featuring Mary Woodyard
Hi friends, I’m super excited to share another Hindsight 20/20 article. This article was written by Mary Woodyard about raising her son, Tommy, who is currently a senior at the University of Georgia. Tommy also happens to be legally blind. I’m so grateful that Mary took the time to share her wisdom with us parents who are still in the thick of advocating for our children’s accessibility needs in school.
Each 20/20 interview will be unique because blindness is a spectrum and each child, parent, and family has different circumstances, goals, and expectations. As parents, we need to educate ourselves and consider advice from reliable sources — foundations, doctors, teachers, and so on (the list seems endless) — but ultimately, we are our children’s greatest advocates. I strongly believe that other parents who have “been there, done that” are our best resources. So, let’s navigate blindness together!
Alright parents, grab a cup of coffee or your beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.
Meet Mary
Contact via Facebook
1. What was the first symptom you noticed and what was your child’s age?
He was born at 26 weeks during what I thought was a normal pregnancy. He had contracted an infection which made him very sick; but, it did not impact me at all. When he was born, there was confusion as to his gestational age. The doctors were not sure if he was 25 weeks or 26 weeks. There was no consensus until he was a month old. Doctors warned me his brain was underdeveloped and felt that he would have GI issues. In addition, he had: a hernia, a hole in his heart and a pound of fluid in his body that was not supposed to be there. They were worried that his brain was not developing. He was 1.9 pounds when he was born. They told me not to worry about his eyes – they would be fine. Continue reading “Hindsight 20/20 Featuring Mary Woodyard”
Addison’s Diagnosis Story: Mainzer Saldino Syndrome & RP
We Have a Daughter. She is going blind. She helps us to see. Written by our special guest, Addison’s mom: Diane Bealer.
When our oldest child (a girl) was just over a year old we noticed that she couldn’t see in the dark. This was a little worrisome to us but we didn’t freak out about it because we didn’t know we should for one, and we didn’t have any clue of the implications for another, the most important reason is that we weren’t ready for the truth at that point in our lives. As she got older we started noticing more clues that something wasn’t right with her vision. She would trip over things in dim light. She would freeze in the dark and not know where things were located. She NEVER got out of bed at night, unless there were bright lights on.
We took her to her first eye appointment when she was about 3-4 and the optometrist examined her and agreed that she needed glasses for nearsightedness but did not believe us about night blindness. It just did not occur in children that young. It wasn’t possible. This happened for 3-4 more years, every year we would go to the eye doctor and plead with them to do a more extensive exam, longing for some kind of answer. Every time it was the same thing. “Kids don’t get night blindness this young”. “You’re worrying too much”
Then the year she was going to turn 8 we took her to her annual exam, and once again I told the doctor of how she ran into things in the dim light and dark. How I knew in my heart something was going on with her eyes. He did the regular eye exam and said he couldn’t see anything wrong with her eyes.
Then I asked a question I hadn’t thought to ask before, “Will you do the same exam, but in the dark?” Continue reading “Addison’s Diagnosis Story: Mainzer Saldino Syndrome & RP”
Navigating Blindness 