About Us

This blog is about how the world is viewed by the visual and the visually impaired. The intent of this blog is to bring the two worlds together. It is administered by two fabulous sisters, Toni, who is sighted and Robin, who became visually impaired in 2002 at the age of 18 due to misdiagnosis.



Sunday, January 26, 2014

My 11 Year Old Self

I have a story to share, it is not blindness related, but I thought it was worthy of talking about with all of you. Maya Angelou understood it best when she said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.” So, put on your seatbelts because we are going to travel back to the mid 1990’s, when I was in the 6th grade. This was a hard time for me because at school, I absolutely had no friends and felt isolated by my peers. Particularly, there were a group of girls, which seemed as though their main mission each day was to make my life as miserable as they could. I dreaded going to school, and could not wait for the year to be over. With that said, at the end of the year, I switched schools and never looked back. Fast forward to the present; 19 years later, I have not talked to any of my former classmates from that school and had no expectation of ever doing so. But, you see, that is the funny thing about life, it can be unpredictable and rarely do things happen as you expect. I can attest to this first hand because at the end of last year, life threw me another curve ball. One day when checking my email, I was surprised by a particular sender. In fact, I had to scroll over his name several times before opening the message to make sure that I was hearing my screen reader correctly. After opening the message, it was indeed who I thought it was; a male classmate from my 6th grade class. To say the least; my mouth flung open and I entered into a complete state of disbelief. In the message, he apologized for not being all that nice to me when we were younger. In addition, he offered some words of encouragement by talking about how strong of a person I am. The email was such a kind gesture and it meant a lot to me. I feel it was commendable for him to take the time to reach out to me, and it shows what a considerate adult he has grown up to be. Of course I accepted his apology, and now I have a pleasant ending to a chapter in my life that I had once closed. Speaking for my 11 and 30 year old self, I want to thank him again for contacting me!

My 11 year Old Self

I have a story to share, it is not blindness related, but I thought it was worthy of talking about with all of you. Maya Angelou understood it best when she said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.” So, put on your seatbelts because we are going to travel back to the mid 1990’s, when I was in the 6th grade. This was a hard time for me because at school, I absolutely had no friends and felt isolated by my peers. Particularly, there were a group of girls, which seemed as though their main mission each day was to make my life as miserable as they could. I dreaded going to school, and could not wait for the year to be over. With that said, at the end of the year, I switched schools and never looked back. Fast forward to the present; 19 years later, I have not talked to any of my former classmates from that school and had no expectation of ever doing so. But, you see, that is the funny thing about life, it can be unpredictable and rarely do things happen as you expect. I can attest to this first hand because at the end of last year, life threw me another curve ball. One day when checking my email, I was surprised by a particular sender. In fact, I had to scroll over his name several times before opening the message to make sure that I was hearing my screen reader correctly. After opening the message, it was indeed who I thought it was; a male classmate from my 6th grade class. To say the least; my mouth flung open and I entered into a complete state of disbelief. In the message, he apologized for not being all that nice to me when we were younger. In addition, he offered some words of encouragement by talking about how strong of a person I am. The email was such a kind gesture and it meant a lot to me. I feel it was commendable for him to take the time to reach out to me, and it shows what a considerate adult he has grown up to be. Of course I accepted his apology, and now I have a pleasant ending to a chapter in my life that I had once closed. Speaking for my 11 and 30 year old self, I want to thank him again for contacting me!

Saturday, January 4, 2014

The Year of Happiness

Happy New Year to all of you! Pat yourselves on the back you made it to the first weekend of 2014; yay! Do you have a New Year resolution yet? Well, I have been really thinking about my resolution this year because unlike the last time, I am in a new chapter of my life; the 30’s. Therefore, I really want my goal to be attainable, and benefit me in the long run. Last year, my resolution was to think more positive about my life circumstances because I was facing hardship around my unemployment. I have to admit, I had some up and downs, but overall, I think I did pretty well with my goal. I feel with any resolution or goal, there is going to be setbacks, but the important thing is not to give up or be extremely hard on yourself. So, building off of my goal last year, my resolution is to have a year of happiness. Sure, it may sound easy, but seeking true happiness for yourself can be a daunting task, especially if you put yourself on the backburner. True happiness cannot be found in other people, but solely lies within you. Not only am I going to think about my needs more, but I am also going to pinpoint one positive thing about each day, no matter how difficult a situation may be. For example I may be unemployed, but I have gone on interviews and I am volunteering for some great agencies, Beautifully Blind being one of them. So, what do you think, does my resolution seem attainable? Beautifully Blind wants to hear your thoughts! Also stay tuned for my next post regarding someone from my past.