"A hobby and so much more"

Hadley

A Hobby and So Much More

Presented by Douglas Walker

Douglas: Hello, and welcome to the Insights and Sound Bites podcast, where people facing vision loss share insights about what has helped them cope and adjust.

William Chapman: I started making the clocks for myself just to keep my mind going and some people started requesting those clocks.

Douglas: My name is Douglas Walker. Today we’ll hear from William. William shares with us how his love of woodworking, which, started out as a hobby ended up giving him so much more.

William Chapman: Hi, my name is William Chapman. I reside in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I'm 73 years of age. I used to work for the court system for 32 years. Three years after I retired is when I lost my sight.

I'm totally blind as a result of optic nerve neuropathy, and it was a gradual type thing. And so, my wife encouraged me to pursue mobility and the blind center here in Michigan.

One of the little hobbies that I had prior to losing my sight was woodworking. They introduced me to woodworking while I was at the center.

And one of the things that I decided to pursue just to keep my mind going...I was going to follow up with woodworking once I left the center, which I did, as a hobby. So, I started making the clocks for myself, and some people start requesting those clocks that I made, and, "What can I pay you?" I go, "What?" So, I started making the clocks, and I created a webpage.

They said, "Well, how do you do that?" Well, I got all my fingers. I'm very careful. I have a sawmill around here that I get my lumber from at a discount. It's therapeutic because during COVID, I was making three to four clocks a week. That was my way of...People were saying how bored they were, but, man, it was nonstop for me. I may work out into my man cave to two, three o'clock in the morning, and it was therapeutic, just sanding and filling and all of that.

Not to be braggadocios or anything like that. I'm not unique because I know there are a number of people like us who are doing exceptional things even though they are without sight. And so that's my motivation is to lift people up, let them know that it's not the end of the world.

Douglas: Is there an insight you’d like to share? I‘d love to hear from you. You can leave me a voicemail by calling, 847-512-4867. Or, you can email me a recording to [email protected]. Again, my name is Douglas Walker. Take care and I’ll see you next time.