World CP Day

by Chelsey Zumpano

(I found this interview in my drafts from last year and it must have gotten lost or something, but here it is now).

This post is in honor of world CP, (Cerebral Palsy), Day that was on October 6th, so I’m interviewing my friend and fellow Blogger and YouTuber Sam.

1 Do you have other disabilities besides CP?

Yes I have other medical conditions other than cerebral palsy. The one that stands out the most however is autism spectrum disorder and for me I fall under extremely high functioning but makes it so that I am very hyperactive. I have nystagmus ( repetitive uncontrollable eye movement) in my left eye which makes tracking very difficult. And it also means I have no depth perception in my eyes at all. Most people when they hear that I have no depth perception think that I am blind. This is not exactly true. My right eye compensates for what I cannot see, (corners, ledges, Etc). I also have kyphosis scoliosis which makes it so my back is curved not one way but both ways.

2 Do you consider yourself to have a visual impairment?impairment? Yes I do consider myself visually impaired because almost everywhere we go has something that makes it difficult for me to see what I’m doing or where I’m going. And a lot of times I have to rely on what things sound like just here in our home to know what they are. My parents joke and call me sonar because I can hear anything and everything inside the house. I am supposed to be wearing glasses. But they would only serve to enlarge things for reading or writing. They do not correct the depth perception problem which is my biggest and visual difficulty.

3 How Does CP effect your dayly life?

CP does affect my everyday life and it will indefinitely. This is something I will live with for the rest of my life. And here are some of the ways that it affects me personally. I am wheelchair-bound and have never been able to walk. However once a week I do attend and intensive course of physical therapy. The purpose of this is to better my balance and eventually make it so that my ability to accomplish simple everyday tasks such as pulling myself up to a sit or stand position is made easier so that I can transfer on my own someday. I need help with almost everything in my daily life. Anything from toileting to making a meal I need help with. My family does their absolute best to encourage me to be independent regardless of the fact I need help with just about everything in my life. On a regular basis my mom and I both take care of my animals and do the gardening together. Just doing that is usually enough to exhaust me even after 2 hours of being in my wheelchair. CP is very difficult because even just two hours sitting up is like somebody able-bodied doing a whole day’s workout. Despite the fact of the difficulty of this condition, I still do find time and space Within a day or week to do one to two outside the house activities. My favorites include Church, shopping, and actually believe it or not, physical therapy.

4 Do you use any assistive technology?

Yes I use several assistive devices to get through a day. The biggest of which is my power chair…. By the way just FYI for anybody out there never use the term Electric chair to describe a power chair. It is not only disrespectful it will put negative connotation in somebody’s head that does not understand what you’re talking about. If you want to use those words use the words electric wheelchair. Never just electric chair alone. Other than my power chair I actually do use my cell phone for a lot of my needs throughout the day. For example just to turn my light on and off we have a specific light bulb in my ceiling fan from the homebrite company. The light bulb connects to a mesh which connects 2 an application on my phone… This allows me to independently from my bed turn the light on and off when I need it. Also my everyday life has simple things in it for example our frigerator has the fridge side door is broke into two sections. It is one that has a smaller door with the Press of a button in the top and then you close that to open the Charger door which opens the entire refrigerator. Our freezer has an ice machine attached to it which also has a water machine attached to it and helps me get water when I need it. Instead of running to a sink faucet several hours a day. My television in my room is a smart television for many different reasons. It has the capability to actually tell me what I’m clicking on without having to see it. But as for other medical equipment I use a hospital bed at the moment. This is helpful with positioning myself when I don’t want to ask for help period that comes in handy especially late at night when everybody’s asleep. I have a laptop here at home that helps me right longer letter is when I cannot get my wrists to operate. The computer also has tell it type it features as well as the other Target features I have mentioned on my phone and television.

5 How do your dogs help you?

My dogs are my world. My oldest Lylah and youngest is a boxer named Dixie. Lylah is an ESA and Dixie is the family dog. They are 15 weeks apart. Both help me with my anxiety disorders. Without them I wouldn’t be able to make it through the day.

6 What advice do you have for others who want to start YouTube or a blog?

The advice I would give to anyone trying to start a social media such as a blog or a YouTube channel is to just be yourself. Be as honest. Don’t pressure yourself to put something out there every day. Well I’m not as active as I would like on these platforms as made for myself, that does not take away from the fact that they remain active. Many people still love to read or watch my content. And so many are inspired by it. And as anyone will see on my blog page my goal and all of this was to encourage and style and uplift anybody who read or watched any content I put out there.

Blog:

https://conqueringcpblog.wordpress.com

YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCTZZ5sZP-RD8qvsz0cb0n3g?reload=9

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Blogging vs YouTube

by Chelsey Zumpano

I’m writing this while I drink hot chocolate and cudle with audrey. I’m going to tell yall some of the things I like about YouTube and Blogging.

YouTube is easier when I just want to say something real quick and I don’t have to worry about writing for the moment. It’s easier to show you certain things in a video, like how I edit videos or how I take out and clean my fake eye, (by the way, let me know if you’d be interested in seeing a video on that)? I’m a lot more spontaneous with videos because I over think my writing. Making videos have help me to be more confident with talking.

When I’m blogging it takes longer because I’m constantly spell checking and worrying about how things sound. I can write anywhere! In a crowd of loud people, in the car, when I’m jamming out to music, and in a dark room. I feel like sometimes I can be freer with my writing, but at the same time I have to have a plan of what I’m writing. I can stay in my PJs all day and curl up with my animals. I don’t have to worry about what I’m wearing or what my hair looks like. My eyes get to take a brake.

Editing for both is a pain! I get so annoyed hearing my own voice sometimes that I have to stop for awhile. When I’m editing a blog it’s a little easier because I can ask my Alexa how to spell things. Writing these past 15 days, (Yay, I’m doing great), has taught me better spelling and that writing is easier to do when I’m feeling overwhelmed and don’t feel like being on camera.

Let me know what you think of YouTube and Blogging in the comments. If you would like to be interviewed or otherwise contribute to this blog or YouTube send an email to:

viblindresources@gmail.com

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Books Bring Joy!

by Chelsey Zumpano

Everyone knows I’m a major bookworm, but did you know that November is Family literacy Month! In addition to reading us stories my mom told us stories like ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ but with us as the characters. I was so into stories that I use to talk to myself about what I did that day to help myself fall asleep.

Some books that stick out to me from when we were little are this one about to little cats who were expecting a little sibling and my mom read this to me and my twin brother before my sister was born. There were more like ‘If You Give A Mouse A Cookie,’ ‘If You Give A Pig A Pancake,’ ‘The Old Woman Who swallowed A Fly,’ ‘the Little Woman Who Lived In A Shoe,’ ‘Ramona Quinby,’ ‘Junie B Jones,’ and much more! One of the first ever Audio books I’ve read was ‘Sarah Plain and Tall’ and from there I was hooked on Audible! I grew to fall in love with reading and eventually I read ‘Harry Potter’ in braille. In seventh grade my mom read me ‘Twilight’ and I fell in love with Stephenie Meyer’s world. ‘Twilight’ helped me through my eye surgery I had that year by giving me a chance to get out of my head and into Bella’s for awhile.

After that I read ‘The House of Night series’ ‘percy Jackson and The Olympians,’ leading me to fall in love with the rest of Rick Riordan’s books.

Books have shaped me so much that I’ve written some of my own that you will hopefully see soon. So read to your kids and you’ll never know how it could shape their life.

If you would like to be interviewed or otherwise contribute to this blog or YouTube send an email to:

viblindresources@gmail.com

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Before I get A Guide Dog To Do List

by Chelsey Zumpano

After going to Guide Dogs for the Blind, (in Vlog61) I learned a lot, so I’m going to share it with everyone.

I realized it wasn’t as far away as I thought and this helped relieve some of my anxiety. I’ve attended their Life Style work Shop: once before when I was younger, but this time I feel like I got better information and I’m in a different mind set now. I have better coping skills for my anxiety and I feel more confident in myself.

I learned how to brush a dogs teeth and I’m going to try to practice with my dogs because we just give them dental bones. Yes, you can have other animals and have a guide dog. You introduce your dogs on neutral territory, like the park. If they don’t get a long at first you seperate them.

There’s one thing that I loved that they pointed out: which was that you should only give your dog a bath about once a month! This is something i’ve been telling people for years and no one believes me, the thing is my uncle is a vet, so I know this is true. This is for all dogs: service dogs and pet dogs. You can give them a bath more if they rolled in mud or something. The reason you shouldn’t give your dog a bath that offten is because the natural oils in their skin keep them warm. They have wipes that you can use for their feet and I’m pretty sure there’s doggy perfume.

I’m going to go to this awesome mobility program called, “Orientation and Mobility Immersion Program.” The program teaches you the skills you need to work with a guide dog such as auditory info, increasing your awareness for a guide dog traveler, doing a Juneau walk, (a pretend guide dog), and much more.

Now here’s my to do list!

1 do three routs independently

2 take Dial-A-Ride

3 sign up for the Orientation and Mobility program

4 get Ginger and Lucy a dog stroller

5 figure out where the dogs are going to sleep after I get the guide dog

I will come back and add more to the list and check things off as I go.

If you would like to be interviewed or otherwise contribute to this blog or YouTube send an email to:

viblindresources@gmail.com

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Meet the Blind Month: Stephanae’s Journey

by Stephanae McCoy

It was 2005 and as long as I live I’ll never forget the moment it happened. I took out my right contact lens and while still looking in the mirror—my face vanished. 

 

Hi my name is Stephanae McCoy, abilities crusader and founder of www.boldblindbeauty.com a website designed to empower blind and visually impaired women while connecting sighted and non-sighted communities. Thank you Chelsey for inviting me to participate in your Meet The Blind Project for October.

 

My sight loss journey spanned four years and began with one macular hole in my left eye. There were no warning signs and the best I can surmise is that it happened sometime during the day it appeared or the night before. 

 

As a high myope (extremely nearsighted) all of my life, my contact lenses brought everything into clear focus. Since my prescription was so strong when I took out the right contact—rendering my right eye almost sightless—the remaining vision in my left eye couldn’t detect my face because of the macular hole. 

 

At the time of the first macular hole, I could still detect light and colors but everything I looked at with my left eye was distorted. It was like looking in a funhouse mirror where the jumbled reflection was similar to looking through a kaleidoscope.

 

Due to a number of factors my prognosis was extremely good and I was assured by my retina specialist that my sight would be restored. The restoration process included a number of surgical procedures which worked of a time, then failed. Fast forward four years with issues in both eyes including: a macular pucker, epiretinal membrane, retinal detachment, glaucoma, cataracts, broken blood vessels, and uveitis I was declared legally blind.

 

I have no usable eyesight in my right eye and rely heavily on the residual sight in my left. Since I can no longer see the eye chart my doctors measure my vision with finger counting and hand waving. 

 

When I was declared legally blind this was the moment where I was told nothing more could be done. While it was true nothing more medically could be done I’m so thankful that wasn’t the end of my story. There are many tools and trainings available to help people who’ve lost their sight regain and sustain their independence.

 

Today I run Bold Blind Beauty sharing with the world the capabilities of blind and visually impaired people. The idea here is to dispel misconceptions and build awareness and appreciation for our unique attributes. Bold Blind Beauty believes Real Beauty Transcends Barriers.

 

You can connect with me on the following social media platforms:

 

Website: www.boldblindbeauty.com

Facebook: @BoldBlindBeauty

Twitter: @BoldBlindBeauty

Instagram: @BoldBlindBeauty

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Meet the Blind Month: My Eyes Hate This Weather!

by Chelsey Zumpano

I love fall the crunch of leaves under foot, the sweet taste of caramel apples, the heat of hot chocolate in my belly, going to the pumpkin patch, curling up under a blanket with my favorite book, and being able to wear hoodies again. But there is a huge down side to fall that most people wouldn’t think of and that’s the weather, ′more specifically how the weather effects my vision′.

I’ve mentioned in videos before how overcast days are really bad for me: the light is to bright and it reflects off every thing making it hard to see. Then when I go inside my eyes need to adjust, (just like when it’s sunny), so I still wear sun glasses. But right now a lot of my sun glasses seem to dark, even when it’s sunny out.

Another thing that can happen to me on overcast days is migraines and my migraines mean that everything is to bright and there are deeper shadows, (along with a head ake), I used to get them a lot back in high school and my eyes already had, (and still have), truble focusing before 9:00 o’clock and migraines don’t help. Part of the reason is I don’t sleep well, but mostly my eyes just don’t like the early morning.

The best thing for me to get rid of migraines is sleep and ibuprofen for the headache part. Some other things that have helpt me recently are turning the screen curtain on my Ipad and reading on my BrailleNote, turning on invert colors on my Ipad takes some of the brightness away, and not using my Ipad at all. I also sometimes feel like everything is to loud on those days, so I can’t edit videos. So limiting my use on my Ipad is best and to just read on my BrailleNote, but I don’t always do this.

I know when I’m on my Ipad all the time it makes my vision worse, which inturn makes my anxiety worse because I’m hyperaware of how my vision is. It doesn’t matter that this happens every year my anxiety doesn’t care! Maybe I choose not to remember this time of year or I block it out. Whatever the case my anxiety is just really bad around this time of year. It’s like when I’m feeling really overwhelmed with all the people talking my brain hyperfocuses on how dim/yellow the lighting is and then I’m working myself into a panic attack. Some things that help me are to get away from everyone for awhile: I usually go in my room, outside, or another room with less people.

I’ve decided to write a vision and anxiety journal to help myself cope better. I’ve found writing and talking my thoughts out helps me to feel less like my anxiety is controlling my life and it’s all thanks to this blog and YouTube. The journal will be for myself only becxs good to do something just for yourself and yourself alone.

Let me know down in the coments: if the weather effects your vision and what you do to help it? Also if you’d like to be interviewed on this blog or contribute to this YouTube Channel send an email to:

viblindresources@gmail.com

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Meet the Blind Month: Amanda’s Life.

By Amanda Gene 

I was asked by Chelsey, who runs the blog, VIBlindResources, to join in her project meet the blind month.

Let me introduce myself, my name is Amanda Gene. I’m 30 years old, I have a Bachelors of Arts in Print Journalism with a minor in Professional Education. My blog, www.amandagene.com has been going strong for nine years and it covers a variety of disability topics, day in the life, ect.

I have an eye condition called Congenital Nystagmus which I have had since birth. My vision is like looking through a piece of Saran Wrap. My vision is at its strongest in the morning, and it deteriorates through the day. I have Night Blindness and was diagnosed with it in 2011. I noticed my Night Blindness in the spring on 2008 on my senior trip to Disney World, but I was not sure if it was stress or something else. So, the next time I saw my eye doctor I asked about my symptoms and was told I had Night Blindness. My Night Blindness has been fluctuating recently. Sometimes I can see just fine, sometimes I can see just light and shadows and on really bad night’s I can’t see anything at all. 

I use some assistive technology aids to help me live as a normal life as I possibly can. I use a screen reader called ZoomText to help me see my computer. Kurzweil 3000, to help read books, emails, and other printed material. I have a talking book player and I’m signed up with BookShare.org to access books in audio format. I have my Apple Iphone 6 S plus with voice over and speak tool to access my emails, text messages, ect. Lastly, I have the Amazon Echo to help me with looking up recipes, to check the time, to check my spelling of words when I am writing, and the list to keep up with my To-Do lists and my shopping lists.

In the kitchen I have a talking thermometer, a black/white cutting board and long oven mittens. 

 

Places you can find me:

www.AmandaGene.com  Blog

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt7ecLXRimvYFUZJ9WYYXXw/featured?view_as=subscriber -YouTube

https://www.pinterest.com/amandagenenelso/ Pinterest  

https://twitter.com/AmandaGeneN Twitter 

https://www.instagram.com/amandanelson88/ Instagram 

amanda@amandagene.com Email 

https://www.facebook.com/AmandaGeneN/ Facebook 

If you would like to be apart of meet the blind month, please email either a blog post of five minute video to Chelsey by October 13.

Email:

 viblindresources@gmail.com

 

 

 

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Interview with Mom of Micro Premmies!

by Chelsey Zumpano

four pictures of Clint and Chelsey. The pictures on the top are Clint and Chelsey as babies. The pictures on bottom are them now at 23. Clint's on the left and Chelsey's on the right.

As you may or may not know, me and my twin brother, (Clint), were born at 25 weeks. We were micro premmies and Clint was born first. He weighed 1 Lb. 12 Oz. I weighed 1 lb. 6 oz.

In honor of Neonatal month of September I interviewed my mom about us as babies.

1 Why were we born early?

At 24 1/2 weeks I went into labor and I end up have an emergency c-section. I looked like I was 9 months pregnant.

2 What was your experance like in the Nicu? My experience in the NICU was actually pretty good. We had a lot of good nurses and Doctors . Even though we had many ups and downs the ups outshine the downs . We had a very good support system that helped us get through it.

3 What was the hardest part about us being premature?

The hardest part about having premature twins was not being able to take you home and having to wait to be able to hold you tell you were stable enough.

4 How many surgeries did Clint and I have?

Clint had laser eye surgery and a hernia surgery .

And you had 3 eye surgeries and 2 bowel surgeries .

5 What advice do you have for other parents who have premature babies?

Advice I would give to other parents in NICU would be to visit as often as u can but also make sure to take care of your self. Ask lots of questions be involved with babies care as much as possible. Take lots of pictures. And as hard as it may seem try to think positive it is what got me through a lot of the ups and downs. Talk to your baby and let them know you are there.

If you would like to be interviewed by me send an email to:

viblindresources@gmail.com

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Raised by Visionally Impaired Parents: An Interview with Glin from Well Eye Never!

by Chelsey Zumpano

Glin is a fellow Blogger and YouTuber, he’s also visionally impaired, but unlike me he has been raised by parents who also happend to be visionally impaired. So I asked him some questions about what it was like growing up.

1 Do you have the same visual impairment as your parents and either way what is the name/names of it?

I have the same conditions as my mother – aniridia and nystagmus. Aniridia means I don’t have an iris (the coloured circle) in my eye, so my eyes don’t adjust to changes in light properly. As a result, I’m very sensitive to glare and I find it hard to adjust in the dark. Nystagmus means my eyes shake and wobble all the time. This makes it harder for me to focus on things, unless they’re close up or enlarged.

My mother’s sight got a lot worse over time, so it’s possible mine could too. But so far it’s been quite stable and I can still see reasonably well.

My father’s visual impairment was caused by a rare condition called Behcets disease, which also affected his blood flow and immune system. But I didn’t inherit that. His sight was a bit better than my mum’s, although still not great.

2 Did your parents have different techniques for raising you (particularly when you were a baby and toddler)?

Not really, they raised me like any parent would, as far as I remember. They were very independent and able to look after themselves and me very well, so we were quite a normal family. We did have support from social services in terms of getting help with any equipment or adaptations we might need, but for general child-raising my parents were no different to any others at the end of the day. They were loving and supportive and encouraging like all parents should be.

3 Do you have any siblings and if not do you wish you did?

No, I’m an only child. It meant I got all the attention, as my parents looked after me well, so I was happy with that! It still could have been nice to have a brother or sister to play with, especially when I was struggling to make friends at school to begin with. But I got used to being an only child and was comfortable with it. And once I did start to make friends at school and gradually become more confident, the lack of a sibling didn’t matter.

4 Did your parents visual impairments help you to accept that part of yourself more easier?

It helped a lot, yes. The very first school I went to was a mainstream school, so I was around kids who weren’t disabled. I was bullied there because of my visual impairment, and the teachers didn’t know how to help. So going back home to my parents was a great comfort, because they knew what it was like for me, and I felt safe and happy with them. If they had been normal sighted and not understood, it could have been even more difficult for me, as I didn’t know any other visually impaired people at that stage. So I was glad and grateful that they did understand and knew how to support me.

And as soon as they saw I was being bullied, they moved me to a new school as quickly as they could. They found a special school for children with visual impairments, which proved to be much better for me. It still took me a while to build up my confidence, but whenever things were tough I always knew my parents would be there for me. And as I grew up they were able to show me how to do things independently despite my sight loss. So they helped me a great deal.

5 What’s your favorite memory growing up with your parents?

Family holidays. We would visit London a few times each year, to stay with my grandparents and see my aunt and uncle, and go out and about in the city. We’d go to museums, have walks by the Thames, explore the shops, go to musicals at the theatre, enjoy pantomimes at Christmas, etc, and we even did a few day trips to the coast of France as well. Where we used to live there wasn’t much to do, so coming to London was always a wonderful treat, as there’s so much going on here.

These days, my mother and I now live in London, in the house we inherited from my nan. Moving in felt very natural, because I’d already spent so much time here growing up, so it already felt like a second home. Being here brings back a lot of fond memories.

6 What are some different ways you traveled as a family?

My parents couldn’t drive, so in our local area we used buses to get around, or taxis if it was more convenient. And when we travelled longer distances, especially to London, we used the train. We would get a train that went straight through if possible, so we didn’t have to get off and change trains along the way. In London itself we mainly used the Underground trains (the Tube) to get around, but occasionally we would use the buses, or my aunt and uncle would drive us to places.

7 Did you ever think that there was anything different about your parents?

I knew my parents found it harder to do some things than other people did, and I understood that, because I was the same as them. And I also knew we weren’t ‘normal’ compared to most other people, because of all the normally sighted children I saw at my first school, and normal sighted adults I’d met as well. I just couldn’t understand why people like the bullies had a problem with it, until I got older and realised they simply didn’t understand and had issues of their own that they needed help for.

8 Did seeing your parents do things independently help you to be confident in doing those things yourself?

Yes. It was comforting to know that they were able to do things, because that meant I would also be able to, and they could help me if I needed it. They always found a way of doing the things they needed to do, so they were able to show me how to be independent, and they helped me to understand that most things are possible, even if you have to do them a bit differently to other people. And I still have that attitude today. If something seems hard, I always take a step back and try to think if there are better ways of achieving it, because there often is.

9 Did your parents use a cane or guide dog and do you have any favorite memories of that?

They didn’t use either. For quite a while my dad could just see well enough to navigate without an aid, so Mum would go out with him and be guided by him, instead of going out alone. And then as I got older, I became a guide for my mum and dad as and when necessary, because I have the best sight of all of us. And I still take my mum out now, she doesn’t go out on her own.

10 Did your parents use any assistive technology?

Yes. They had a big CCTV magnifier for reading things, a monocular (a little telescope) for looking at things when out and about (e.g. signs, bus numbers, train information, etc), and they used gadgets like talking scales in the kitchen, talking watches and talking clocks, a talking calculator, a talking tape measure, etc. And they loved listening to audiobooks too.

Another gadget they had was a Penfriend, which was a device shaped like a fat pen. It came with small labels that you could stick on things. You would record a message for each label, to describe the object that it was attached to, and then scanning the label with the pen would play the message back. It came in useful for Dad to identify his DVDs for instance, as we could stick a label on to each of the cases and make a short recording saying what it was.

So my parents did find talking technology very useful, and indeed my mother still does, as she has a Victor Stream Player for listening to audiobooks and the radio, and we have Amazon Echo machines that we can talk to. But we also use simple solutions like Bump ons, which are small raised dots that you can stick things. They’re useful on appliances like the cooker and washing machine where you have to turn dials, as you can put these dots on the numbers you most commonly use, and then you can feel when you’ve turned the dial to the number you want.

11 What’s your favorite advice your parents gave you about your visual impairment?

It was their general attitude rather than a particular piece of advice that stuck with me and inspired me. They had a very positive outlook on life and always encouraged me to try the things I wanted to do, because there’s always a way of achieving what you want to achieve. So I’ve had that mindset for a long time, particularly as my confidence has grown. I don’t let things get me down too much, I try my best at things, and I grasp opportunities when they arise. You only live once, so enjoy it and make the most of it as best you can.

12 What advice do you have to kids of parents with disabilities and to parents who have disabilities?

To the children I would say don’t worry that your parents are disabled. They are still normal people, they just have to do things a bit differently sometimes. It doesn’t mean they can’t look after you and care for you, and they can still enjoy themselves. They will still love you and support you and do everything they can for you, so that you can be happy and have fun and be successful. And you’ll learn a lot from them too, about how to be independent and make the most of what you have, which will be very important for later life. So you’ll be fine. Many of my visually impaired friends had visually impaired parents, and they’ve been very happy and successful, it’s not held them back.

Likewise to the parents I would also say don’t worry. Being disabled doesn’t stop you from being good parents and helping your child to live a fulfilling life. If you need help and advice along the way, then there’s lots of information and support out there. You may have social services and disability groups in your local area that can help you, there will be national charities that can advise and assist you, and you may be able to get funding for certain items of equipment or assistive services if you need it. And of course there is a wealth of information on the internet, from blogs and Youtube videos where people post about their experiences and give useful tips and advice, to Facebook groups where you can join in with community discussions and ask questions. So you’re definitely not alone. It may be tough sometimes, of course, but the support is out there, so make sure you seek it out and use it.

Blog and social media links:

Blog – https://welleyenever.com


Youtube – https://youtube.com/c/WellEyeNever

Twitter – https://twitter.com/well_eye_never


Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/welleyenever/

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/welleyenever/

Email – welleyenever@icloud.com

If you would like to contribute to this blog or YouTube channel, please email: viblindresources@gmail.com

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3 embarrassing things that have happened to me!

By Chelsey Zumpano

1. I ran into a pole, twice! The first time I was in seventh or eighth grade and I was running back to the classroom to where I did braille and slammed into a pole, but this was before I used my cane all the time. The second time was when I was a senior in high school and I was following some friends back to class after getting off the bus that we took to our preschool class, (which we got credit for because it was an early childhood education class), and i ran into a pole. That time I did have my cane, but there are somethings your cane can’t stop you from running into.

2. I went to the wrong English classroom senior year. (Now I’m sure this one everyone can relate to)! I was walking to class and it was later on in the year, so I should know my route to my class, but it was really sunny that day and I miss counted the doors.

3. I lost my bathing suit bottoms at the lake! Now this happened recently and it was the second time we took our boat out. If you want to see the first time we took our boat watch, (Vlog 49 taking our new boat out for the first time!). Me and my sister were being pulled behind a boat on a tube and the water was really rough that day, so we’re being bounced around a lot. All of a sudden I feel like my bottoms are falling off, I tried to pull myself up further on the tube, but it wasn’t working, then I decided to just fall because I thought I would be able to save them, but sadly no!

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