Meet James Leahy. The following video features an individual seated in an office conference room speaking to the camera about his experiences with the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind or MCB, and their vocational Rehabilitation or VR services. The speaker is James Leahy, MCB client.
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I went blind about nine years ago. I suffered a traumatic brain injury from a fall, hit my head and went completely blind like that. I can still kind of imagine what's going on around me, but I don't get any visual information anymore. I had to re-manifest as a person and come to terms with the fact that I was blind, and that was rough. I can't speak for everyone. But I have to assume that for a lot of people who started with sight as I did, and go blind, that can feel impossible. I myself, I'm doing quite well these days, but I have depression, and blindness didn't help. One day, Darren Black, my first VR counselor, was sitting next to my bed in rehab, and explaining to me all the resources the MCB offered, and encouraging me and helping me understand that this was the beginning of the next thing, not an end. Darren shared with me all that I would still be able to do. He explained mobility, where I would learn how to use a cane. He even took my phone and turned on VoiceOver so that I'd be able to use my phone. He told me that a career and jobs were something that was not off the table, and that the Mass Commission would help me do everything from build a resume to find a job. He made it clear from the beginning that there wasn't anything I couldn't do. After rehab, I was matched with a specialist from the Mass Commission, my mobility instructor, Lynn Bridges, which is where I learned how to use the blind cane and how to move about the world. I was also paired with Karen Ahsay, the Braille teacher, so I could start learning the alphabet again. These are the people who can lift you out of really low moments. I had kind of an idea that I wanted to be a teacher, but at the beginning I just wanted to get back into the classroom because I had my tools, I had my disability services, I had the Mass Commission. It only took those first few classes to be excited in the way that I had been excited about learning before I went blind. I knew that getting my associates and then finding my next school to get my education degree was possible. I did eventually graduate from Northern Essex, and I got a history degree with an education minor. And then using people from the Mass Commission, I was able to apply for a number of jobs, go on an interview. And so now I find myself in the classroom, working with students. Love being in the classroom. So being a teacher is a way to never be out of the classroom for the rest of my life. I'm going to eventually go back and get my Master's, but right now I'm getting a crash course in what being in a classroom in the 21st century looks like. I know that if I ever have any kind of problem, the Mass Commission will be able to help me solve a problem or find the people who can. I know I have my toolbox that the Mass Commission has helped me assemble, and so the future doesn't scare me.
To learn more about and contact the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, find them online at mass.gov, or call 800-392-6450.