I want to tell you a little about myself and a few of my experiences. I’m 22 now. Growing up, I lived in a small town with my dad and my twin sisters, who are seven years younger than I am. My mom died when I was eight, so my dad raised the three of us with some help from my grandmother. My dad always thought I was mature, so he relied on me to help with the twins.
I was born prematurely and only weighed 2 pounds, so I was in the NICU for the first few months of my life. My dad told me a few years ago that the doctors didn’t think I was going to live. Eventually, though, my parents were told that I had retinopathy of prematurity, and that I would have limited usable vision. Today, my visual acuity is 20/400 (6/120), so I am able to see, but not well enough to drive.
In high school, in order to compensate for my vision problems, I used speech-to-text software to help me write, screen-share software to see what was on the whiteboard, and a handheld video magnifier for accessing print. Most of the time I was able to access everything with no problems, especially since my teachers put everything online. I was mostly a B student, but that was due to my classes being difficult, rather than my having difficulties accessing materials.
My school district did not have an orientation and mobility (O&M) specialist, so I was sent to summer programs at the school for the blind, which was about 3 hours away from where I lived. It was a cool program! I had to stay in the dorms, but I got to take a lot of classes in stuff that was difficult for me to do with my low vision, like cooking and technology. The one thing I didn’t like about the program was that you have to go out for O&M training every day, and it gets too hot in the summer to be out walking the streets! One time during the program, the O&M specialist, Mr. Mende, decided to teach me about the bus system in the city. He showed me how to use an app to find out when the bus will be at a certain stop and another to follow where it was in its route. We rode the bus together a few times, but he made me lead the way as we walked to the bus stop together, and I was the one who had to figure out when the bus was almost at our stop.
Eventually, he decided that I was ready to ride the bus myself—even though I definitely wasn’t! He told me to meet him at the food court in the mall, and that when I got there, he would buy me a milkshake. So, I walked to the bus stop and when the bus arrived, I got on. I couldn’t see the number on the front of the bus, but I didn’t want to ask the driver like Mr. Mende had told me to do. I just figured it was the right bus
because of the time it got to the stop. Boy, was I wrong! It was a totally different bus that went nowhere near the mall! When I realized that, I didn’t know what to do. After a few minutes, I was in such a panic, so I texted Mr. Mende. He texted me back, asking “What do you think you should do?” which only upset me more! Because he gave me such a lackluster answer, I had no idea what to do, so I just stayed on the bus until it arrived at the terminal. Once I got off, I started to text Mr. Mende to tell him where I was, only for him to come up to me right before I had even sent it! He told me that he had followed the bus in his car when he saw me get on it. He then lectured me on the need to be assertive if I wanted to be an independent traveler. I just wanted to go back to my room in the dorm and hide after that one!
I tried not to think about my wrong bus mishap, but I didn’t have to, as the world provided a distraction. While in class, I received a call that one of the twins was riding her bike and was hit by a car. An ambulance had taken her to a nearby hospital. Mr. Mende drove me to the intercity bus terminal and helped me get a ticket to head home. I hardly remember buying the ticket. When I think back to that day, I can only recall the feeling of my fingernails digging into my palms. The bus seemed to take forever to get me home. I heard conversation, but I couldn’t focus on any of it. I could only think of my sister. My grandmother met the bus, and we drove to the hospital. Once we got there, the doctors told us that my sister had multiple fractures and other injuries but was going to be okay. I spent the week in and out of the hospital with her: school was the last thing on my mind. But the day she came home, my dad asked me to return to the summer program, and I realized for the first time that I had traveled from the city all on my own!
That summer and the experiences I had with Mr. Mende really got me to think about what I wanted to do with my life. I decided not to go to college but instead to culinary school to become a chef. The transition was hard for me. I had to balance going to culinary school, working part time in a bakery, and learning to live in the city. I ended up hiring an O&M specialist to help me learn about taking ferries, using rideshare services, and riding the subway.
Today I am learning to be a sous chef in a very nice hotel. One day I want to own my own restaurant. These days, I feel good about my travel skills, and know that I will be able to figure out how to get around if I move to a new place. I often think back to my issues with not speaking up and not wanting to be outdoors because it was hot. I remember the day when I got on the wrong bus, and it makes me grateful for Mr. Mende. He and all my other teachers were willing to go above and beyond what they had to do to give me the confidence to do things that weren’t easy. I took a bus to the hotel this morning without a second thought, and without Mr. Mende, I doubt I would have ever learned to do this with confidence.