Success Story
Losing my vision has been challenging. In October 2019, from one day to the other my career path came to a dead end and my independence was taken from me. Gladly, I soon came in contact with Juan Ortiz, who is my counselor at the Bureau of Blind Services. He connected me with Cindy Colon, and she started my rehab process while I awaited to be admitted into ICRE Wood.
During my assessment period, the Pandemic started, and everything was shut down. My life and rehab were on stand-by for months, until Nancy Schultz got a group of clients together and trained us in how to use Zoom. This was a tool that I used not only while virtual training happened, but I used it while going through school and even nowadays.
Over a year after that memorable March 2020, ICRE-Wood reopened, and I was able to complete the portion of the rehab that I needed to be ready to pursue a new career path. I enrolled to become a graduate student at Northern Illinois University and started classes on August 2021.
I just graduated this May in the field of Vision Rehabilitation Therapy, and I could not be happier. I was inspired during my own rehab process to pursue this dream of helping others the way I was helped. I feel incredibly thankful to the Bureau of Blind Services and all of the people that work there and believed in me because I found my passion and now have a job at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Washington State.
