AMPERS

Employers will say: you have an excellent resume, an excellent cover letter, but the problem is you’re blind. I go from being a qualified applicant to just: blind. And they don’t look past that.

The thing about disability is, you get angry because you feel isolated. It’s interesting to constantly be with people who are trying to be “nice,” while processing your own anger and frustration. Because for them it’s just one interaction, but for you, it’s 30 years of interactions.

“Everybody has something that they can’t do well. “People with disabilities were made to not give up. If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again.”  

Hearing loss is an invisible disability; we don’t use a wheelchair, we don’t use a white cane, we don’t have dark glasses. “Oh, but you do so well.” Well, I’m doing well because I’m looking at you, but the moment you turn your back and speak in a different direction, I’m not doing so well.