"My Story" Interview Series

My Story: Interviews with people who are blind or have low vision

No two people experience vision loss in the same way. Many feel sadness, grief, anger, and other powerful emotions. Vision loss inevitably results in lifestyle changes and has an impact upon the lives of family members, friends, and significant others. Each person dealing with vision loss is unique; each has a compelling story to tell.

A Coma and Then Blindness - the Story of Jeff Pledger

Read our Q&A with Jeff Pledger, a Senior Financial Analyst with Verizon, who lives in Maryland with his wife, Suzanne, and daughter Caroline. As President of Verizon's Disabilities Issues Awareness Leaders (DIAL), he's frequently on the road advocating for employees with disabilities in Verizon's workforce. Jeff is also the past president of AbleTV.net, the first multimedia company that specialized in producing and hosting accessible video content for the web.

Read about Jeff, a humorous, fast-straight talker and a self-proclaimed "gentleman," he's a man who's ready and waiting for his next "never say quit" life challenge!

My Story – Pratik Patel's Passion for Knowledge

Read our Q&A with Pratik Patel, Director of Information Technology Access for the City University of New York and member of the Governor’s Advisory Council to the New York State Department of Education. He is also the owner of Patel EZFire Enterprises LLC, which consults on a variety of technology projects, including accessibility to web sites for people with disabilities, business development, nonprofit management, and training and development.

Read about Pratik's life and his thirst for learning, technology and advocacy for people with blindness and vision loss.

Alena Roberts

Read our Q&A with Alena Roberts, blogger, Twitterer, and Facebooker extraordinaire. As Alena says on her blog, Perspectives from a Blind Point of View, “I am a blind blogger who has an opinion about everything,” and so she does!

Read about Alena's life journey thus far, including her musical talent, her writing skill, and her interests in gaming and social media.

Josh Crary

Born with Choroideremia (CHM), a rare, inherited eye disorder that causes retinal deterioration and blindness, 23-year-old Josh Crary, a senior and resident advisor at the University of New Hampshire, faces life’s challenges with enthusiasm and shares his perspectives on growing up with a disability.

Read about how Josh's early challenges turned into a life of happiness and opportunities.

Lachelle Smith

Visually impaired since birth, Lachelle Smith never thought of herself as a person with a disability when she was a child. Follow her journey through childhood, school, her early working life, marriage, and family, until she finally discovers the "life changing" career that was "meant to be".

Read about Lachelle's inspiring journey. Part 1. Part 2.

Jeremiah Taylor

Reality-based, confident, assertive, with a wry sense of humor, and a positively inspirational attitude to life, loving, and living — this sums up both Jeremiah Taylor and his wife Jo-Ann. But these qualities were severely tested seven years ago.

Read Jeremiah's story about becoming suddenly blind following surgery on his back.

Vivian

Vivian is a quiet-spoken woman who has strong opinions and religious beliefs and a dignified determination. She describes herself as extremely stubborn! Vivian was diagnosed with diabetes twenty years ago, at age 58. Ten years later, she was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy and spinal stenosis.

Read Vivian's story about losing her sight to diabetes.

Tom McCarville

Life changed when Tom decided to visit his eye doctor and purchase a more modern pair of eyeglass frames. He was given the news that he had permanently lost 20% of his peripheral vision through glaucoma. "The disease is out of control," he was told by his ophthalmologist.

Read Tom's story about living with glaucoma.

Fred Olver

Blind since birth, Fred Olver is an inspiring and determined man who reflects VisionAWARE’s prime motto: "Loss of vision doesn’t mean loss of hope and ambition." Early in his life, Fred knew that he wanted to teach people who are blind or have low vision and encourage their pursuit of rehabilitation and the full use of available resources and adapted equipment.

Read Fred's story about not letting blindness control his life.

Tell Us Your Story

Share your story with others by commenting below. Let us know if you'd like us to consider featuring your experience with vision loss or blindness.

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