I’ve been part of these groups and never done this before, I have sort of done it once in terms of an ama but this is a fuller one. I thought I would introduce myself this way. I also hope this posts encourages and inspires someone to do more, and as some say kick butt! I wrote up a post for some comment and thought I’d share it as my own since it’s my story and my profile of who I am and what I’ve done. I’ve posted up an ama and sort of introduced myself but not really otherwise. I said I’d sit and write all this up someday. So I am more then some mysterious commentor to you all heh! Also selfishly or not so selfishly but secretly I hope this will really help someone my main reason for posting. I hope to inspire someone to grater heights by my full on account.

I also want people to know since many people in these groups are dealing with vision loss. Blindness isn’t the end of the world or end of life. You can still live a very productive and fulfilling life. Very happy and joyful. You can still do what you’ve always done to a good degree just have to learn how to adapt things.

I am totally blind with peter’s anomaly and have been visually impaired all my life. Lost all of my vision about 8 years old. I remember colors and seeing a little bit. I live in the Los angeles area and am originally from Hong Kong, so by blood I am Chinese but by choice very much american.

I am now 29 with 2 aa degrees in english creative writing and political science. I changed my mind and now studying for a computer science degree. I get good grades and have a game plan at school very known for being a good student.

I’ve traveled around to 6 different states on the completely different coast of the U.s. I live in the west in California and went absolutely alone by myself as a blind lady in her mid 20s 26 at the time to 6 different states. Yes, I could have fulled people I was a local I got around so well. I offered to help someone back to his house, after we had dinner. And he was so imbarrassed that he didn’t want me to. He had lived there all his life. And I had been there 3 times and I got the hang of the streets at that point. I didn’t stay in my hotel. I went to 2 or 3 sometimes 4 places a day for sight seeing. I went to visit a few friends.

I’ve represented blind organizations locally since my preteen years. It’s not because I was blind and cute either. I was happy to try things and take rissks.

I have since been on a few panels, represented a disability office recently, been on a ADa students with no barriers committee at a state college with the top officials at the school as a student advocate. I was the most consistent one. After the first meeting the other student turned to me and said you must be a grad student. You are so good. No I am just an undergrad but I’ve done this for a long time. The director thought I was just going to make pretty noises and complaints. I think she knew I wasn’t messing around after that. I wanted to make changes compromises and get things done.

I’ve done a great deal with assistive tech and helping out for a few months before school got in the way I sort of taught assistive tech, and helped out in the lab with sighted but other disabled students.

I have traveled all around the los angeles basin and very well aware of stuff in it. I did yelping for a bit. I know the orange county area as well and frisco. OH yes. I also traveled abroad to Hong Kong about 6 years ago now. I went by myself and stayed with family friends and traveled around a good bit. I surprised everyone, I explored Hong kong pretty good the 3 weeks I was there and even made it across the city to meet another blind Chinese guy friend of mine.

Presently, I am teaching myself trigonometry. My school semester starts next week and I already have most of the first 2 chapters done. No joke. Just read and do every problem in the math book.

Also I pretty much taught myself how to use the computer. Early on I got some keyboarding lessons but I logically pressed every button on the unit and learnt how it worked and how to use it. I’ve been helping on the internet and basically serving as the community free IT person. Haha! I like helping people with tech. I am pretty nerdy as well. I have picked up personality career assessment stuff and have studied the mbti and socionics systems for fun. I read a great deal. Know a lot of music and songs.

I’ve also discipled a young man in the philippines as a Christian.

I like to go to the beach and walk and disciple and evangelize.

Assistive technology is quite fascinating. I took to it pretty quickly so much so I helped in it for a few years. I was so interested in it and computers I wanted to work in it and study computer science. I have since backed off for some personal preferences. Let’s say the field has some melodrama and politicking which I don’t like.

I find that as for skills I have found invaluable I would say independent type skills is one of the most valuable. You can’t live without it. Travel is a huge part of it. If you can travel on your own you can be comfortable just being like everyone else and getting up and going places. If I want to go somewhere I can. I can just get up right now and walk out and go places. I am not stuck at home. That would suck indeed! I feel very comfortable traveling. It’s been a very useful tool. Also it helps you partly being self sufficient. What else is helpful is independent living skills. If you don’t know those how do you live on your own so that is very helpful indeed. It helps you be a self sufficient person. Learning basically how to manage your house on your own and adapt day to day activities. many of us can or do live alone. Also

I find that my technology skills is very important. Especially in this day and age. Knowing how to use the computer and phone really well and fast has opened many opportunities socially, professionally, and otherwise for me. It has helped me with a lot of needs, being able to adapt things and many other aspects. Without tech I don’t know how to live. It also gives you access to many more things. I have worked with and found technology illiterate blind people, and quite a few too. It is certainly not good and their condition is very poor because there are very much a barrier and they really struggle to find as many resources or things like that. I am thankful I am really up on my game with that.

I also find my ability to speak and advocate is good. I was a very bossy and verbal child and learnt to represent at a fairly young age. It has helped me get what I need, and mostly not offend people. It has helped me work with people and network. I wish I could have learnt better social skills earlier, but knowing what I want and how to ask for it is important.

I also find braille skills very important and I use it every day. I find it challenging for me or anyone else to do very involved math or science work without braille. I also use it to read books that are really involved and thick if you will, classic novel, economical and political books for instance. I find braille and essentially being literate to be pretty important. It helps with grammer, spelling, and so many other things. I am thankful I learnt it. Not everyone can read it but it’s because the schools don’t always teach it. If possible I think it’s a great idea to learn it. So I agree with you.

I wish I would have done more hands on work when I was younger. I am a little timid when it comes to that and have not majorly gotten the chance. I am beginning to get the chance and was able to play with computer hardware more. I wish someone would have taught me more hands on skills.

Also finances. I am okay with it and much better after being burnt when I was younger and first had to do it on my own. It would be helpful. I would say I also don’t totally agree with how my parents does it but financial literacy, saving, is important. I know how to save now and have saved and got a lot of the stuff in here. Many blind people ask me how I have so much stuff. How I can afford it. I save and have learnt It took a while.

I wish I was taught social skills as a child and much more then most would teach now. A lot of the blind places does the opposite and some blind people are awkward. I also don’t know if I would have listened. I definitely need a bit more work mostly tact now. You know telling it how it is.

As a child I was always trying something new and independent as well. I also wrote some of this up for a poster. I am going to add a bit more.

I enjoyed quite a lot of stuff as a kid. Enjoyed tactile books. Recording on a tape recorder then was fascinated with c.d.s my parents decided to make audio recordings instead of videos. Don’t know if blindness had anything to do with it. I found telling or reading stories on a tape recorder to be nice.

I liked the outdoors and liked walking about and getting the mail. I enjoyed tech though I didn’t majorly get in to the computer until my teenage year for a bit at the end it was my choice. But I enjoyed my braille note taker sort of a computer but at the time it was very limited.

At About 4 years old, I liked playing with toys with a lot of noices I had a toy guitar with buttons instead of strings and I would investigate which buttons or order of buttons to press was best haha! So basically which one I like best and how they sounded. I enjoyed legos and building things with it. Speaking about 4 years old I remember a reporter came to my house to interview me because I was blind. And instead of letting her interview me I decided to teach her how to play with legos and how I built things. Hahaha!

I enjoyed folding, cutting and ripping paper. I would cut paper in to tinny tiny pieces and call it snow, fold folders, rip papers in to strips and have them connect on both ends and call it a spider web. Put beads or beans in a folded up glueed together piece of paper in hamburger style and call it my maraca, or other fun things like that. I enjoyed writing stories. I didn’t let anything stop me.


In fifth grade I ran for student body president, and won. Of course in fifth grade you obviously don’t do very much in ASB. I had the ambition, drive, and courage to run and serve in that position. Apparently after I left the school had a contest to beat me, and have more students who wre blind in student government. As far as I know I was the first ever blind person who was the student body president in e elementary school.

As a teen I loved reading I found the love of reading at the age of 8 when I first read the Harry Potter books. I ran a writing forum when I was 17 for a year then senior year got in the way. That was interesting.

I was on the school newspaper it was much more like a tabloid but okay…. The point is, I got around the school, fine. I would walk around and interview people and ask people can I interview you? 😀 it was fun.

Actually I was briefly at a college newspaper too. One day they wanted us to get the paper out there and to get rid of it. I ran around the schools and found people and basically was the paper gal and asked everyone would you like a copy of the newspaper? Hahaha! I stood at a convenient place at one point and asked if anyone who walked by if they wanted one.

During my teenage years I reprepresented a blind organization. The same one that hosted camp bloomfield. I was not afraid to try new things. I went surfing and enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I am not a very good surfer but enjoyed the experience. I was recognized for my boldness, my bravery, my courage, and my willingness to do and try things. I was recognized as n example as a blind person.

I started traveling by myself around the city when I was 15 or so and ran out of things to do in mobility lessons. I was pretty decent at buses when I turned 18. Senior year, my mobility teacher ran out of things to do with me, I excelled at orientation and mobility early on.