Amazing Life

I haven’t written in a while, but I have been on an amazing journey.  I am employed and have had several different job opportunities.  I was approached in the spring about working for the Blind Institute of Technology (BIT) and getting them set up on Salesforce Non-Profit Service Pack. I took the challenge, worked with awesome people who mentored me through the customization process, did a lot of online learning, and got their CRM setup. I was then hired as BIT’s recruiter.  So now, I get to recruit people and get them interviews with companies that have heard the mission of BIT and who want to help us VI’s (visually impaired) to get gainful employment.  I am honored and at times completely blown away by what a privilege this job is for me. 

Most of my readers know that I used to work in the Biotech field and that those days are gone because of vision loss.  It is really hard to face the reality that everything you were educated and trained for is gone.  However, through connections at my job I have had the privilege to learn and be trained in many different skills that allow me to work from the comfort of my home with all my assistive and adaptive technology. I have to interject here that nothing I do is menial or boring.  I have gotten to interview for contracts where those conducting the interview knew I was visually impaired and could see beyond my obstacles and see the potential I have. Through my hard work and tenacity I have proven that a VI can do a good job.  I can’t do everything, but what I can do, I can do well.

I am here to tell my fellow VI’s there is a hope and a future. You can still work and as your condition worsened (if it is degenerative) you can have an employer that is not only compassionate but really understands your struggles and is willing to work with you to become the best employee you can be.  I have met and am continuing to meet some of the most amazing, people.  In the 20 plus years I have struggled with my retinal condition I never thought I would have the life I have today.

I love my job because as a recruiter for BIT I get to tell everyone and anyone who struggles with vision issues that there really is life after vision loss and then I get to help them find a job with some of the most generous companies.  BIT is blazing the trail and the word is spreading like wildfire that our demographic is capable and willing to work hard. We are getting recognition and companies are taking notice.  BIT has made some serious inroads in showing corporate America what we as VI’s can bring to the table in spite of our struggles. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Life (you know everything, but your vision loss) goes on

I have just had a doozy of a start to the New Year.  My eyes, thankfully, are stable, quiet and uneventful. I say uneventful loosely because I still go in for quarterly injections regardless of what my scans show or what the doctor sees.  It seems, for me, that quarterly injections are keeping rogue blood vessels at bay and for the most part, aside from the annoying one day recuperation, my vision is stable.  Good, because the rest of life is flying off the rails and I am trying desperately to hang on. My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in spring and our Christmas comprised of finding an assisted living community for her to live in with graduated care for the years to come in the progression of this disease. I am happy to report we found a place, moved her in and she is doing fabulous.  Then around Thanksgiving my lower back issues decided to show up with screaming nerve pain down both legs and fire in my feet.  On January 15^th, I have a 2 level Co-flex done to deal with that. Again, thankfully, I am happy to report that the nerve pain is gone and other than some basic muscle aches and stiffness I am doing phenomenal.   However, even in spite of living in the solution, one needs time to just decompress from the stress.

I have spent so much of my recent life pushing through obstacles in spite of vision loss that any time “life” throws a wrench my way I feel like I have enough wrenches already, can you relate?  When you have any kind of medical/life issue that consumes a large amount of your mental and emotional energy it is really easy to feel like you got the short straw in this thing we call life.  However, at the same time I have the ability to navigate these waters better each time a new wrench is thrown my way. 

Thankfully I am surrounded by an amazing network of folks who support and encourage me.  I don’t’ have time or energy for the negative problem basking folks.  I tread with those who, on a very regular basis, pick up the tools to live and work toward the solutions in life and live a relatively peacefully and content existence.  That is what I want and that is who I hang out with, because several years ago someone simply said “hang out with the winners”. Whoever has the life you want, spend time with them and learn how they do it. The life I want is one filled with peace, contentment, wise counsel, love, grace, hope and a tool box filled with solutions to navigate life’s hard obstacles. If there is one thing I have learned with my 24 years of vision issues, is that most of time we aren't delivered from our hard circumstances we are simply given the people, tools, and grace to travel through them, if we have the humility, patience and perseverance to receive them.