Anna's journey began in 2013 when she contracted a rare virus that ultimately took her vision. At 13 years old she faced the fight of her life, and by her account, she was “grateful to still be alive”.
While Anna was in the hospital her mother recounts calling every blindness related resource that the hospital provided. She described being anxious, worried, scared and countless other emotions but one thing she knew for sure was that she needed to get her daughter some support. She ultimately connected with BSBP, the local chapter of the National Federation for the Blind and Michigan Low Incidence Outreach. That's when she started to gain a sense of hope for her daughter’s future and an understanding that Anna could still have a great life.
Monica and Anna both agreed that that mobility training, technology skills training and work experience she received from BSBP were paramount in her preparation for adult life.
“As a teenager, Anna absolutely didn’t want to be holding mom’s elbow – she wanted to go to the mall, she wanted to go to a friend’s house. And I didn’t realize it at the time, but today I list good cane skills as the most important blindness skill Anna learned," said Monica. "So, parents, please don’t make kids embarrassed to use a cane. We can do damage by making them feel self-conscious about trying to find their way by themselves. Don’t worry – their skills will get better and a cane gives them their independent life.”
Anna added that she benefited greatly from being referred by her counselor for PC and technology skills training.
“The real working world uses a PC with MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint – using a PC is the most seamless device," shared Monica. "With the help of a BSBP-provided tech tutor, we switched from a few specialty blind devices to using a laptop with JAWS.”
Anna credits BSBP with facilitating her first experiences with work. She shared that working helped to build her independence and professional skills.
“Another feature of Anna’s first-job experience that I liked is, instead of having mom drive, BSBP also provided transportation to the job site," said Monica. "Again, independence. And, most of all, Anna started to see that paycheck as the reason why she was working so hard at school!”
Now 22 years old, Anna is living independently in her own apartment in Lansing while finishing up her BA in psychology, working part-time and interning! She is certainly an awesome role model for her peers and all of our BSBP Pre-ETS students alike.
Anna graduates in May of 2023 and plans to attend graduate school in the fall to begin a clinical social work master’s program. Her advice to other students? Put yourself out there more!
Along with the support that she received from BSBP, Anna also attended a variety of camps and trainings to boost her confidents and overall blindness skills. Despite not seeing the benefit at the time, Anna now knows it was one of the best things she did.
"I'm thankful my parents didn’t shelter me from experiences and they never lowered their expectations because of my blindness," said Anna.
Huge shout out to our BSBP and BSBP Training Center staff who were a part of Anna’s journey to success. Special thanks to our rock star counselors Thomas Heuerman, Rosemarie Van Ham and Susan Root for working directly with Anna and her family over the years to provide the career counseling, support and resources she needed to achieve her goals.
Most importantly, thanks to the Forest family for sharing their story! If you or your family would like to be featured in a future newsletter, please reach out to the Pre-ETS team at shackleym@michigan.gov.
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