A YES Summer student reflects on their first week

The following is a reflection from Amber, a YES Student from LightHouse’s Summer Academy. For more information about YES’ Summer Academy, check out our round-up and photos from last year.

“In my short time of being at the LightHouse, I have had an exceptional time with many different learning experiences including work/living skills and also self-discovery.

Before coming to LightHouse, I had never met another visually impaired person. I have always been insecure about my vision, but here I’ve heard many inspiring stories about self acceptance.  One mentor who I identified with was Tim Elder, who spoke of hiding his vision loss by sitting in the back of the class and not acknowledging his vision. He then spoke of the gradual process of self-acceptance, and that was inspiring. Hearing about his accomplishments, like going to law school, being an attorney and helping others, was motivating and I aspire to have that level of self-acceptance someday.

There were other talks of self acceptance such as Lisamaria from Be Confident, Be You. She spoke of her method called “BAANG” which stands for blindness skills, advocacy, academics, networking and getting involved. This method was important and definitely something I will incorporate into my own journey of self acceptance. Her quote, “Tell yourself there are no such things as mistakes, only room for growth” is something I will think about every time I have to do something out of my comfort zone. It is very true each mistake we make can be a learning tool. Her last step of getting involved to not only benefit ourselves but to change the perception of blindness to the general public. That is great perspective that I had never thought of.

I am looking forward to spending the next four weeks at the LightHouse!”