"I came full circle"
Annie shares with us the steps she took to work through her depression by seeking help from a mental health professional.
Hadley
I came full circle
Annie: I think the hardest thing for me was to step out of the world of vision and step into the world of visual impairment and the shock of it really sent me into a depression.
Marc: This is Hadley’s Insights and Sound Bites, where people facing vision loss share what has helped them cope and adjust.
Annie: Hi. My name is Annie and I'm from New Rochelle, New York. I lost my vision in 1993 from retinitis pigmentosa. Prior to that, I was a fully sighted person and lived my life with vision.
I think the hardest thing for me was to step out of the world of vision and step into the world of visual impairment and the shock of it really sent me into a depression. The one thing and one person that helped me the most to recognize that I was still a whole person was a mental health therapist who counseled me for about two years. The reason why I opted into counseling because I was newly married, I had a young son, and I was trying to do this blindness thing pretty much on my own.
Before I became blind, I really didn't know any other blind people. I didn't know much about disability or about resilience. And because I had somebody to help me navigate through the emotional and psychological trauma of sudden blindness, I was able to pull myself out and get myself back into living again. That meant going back to school and getting my high school diploma, then moving on to getting a master's degree in counseling. Incidentally, I ended up counseling people with severe trauma as well in my career, being a counselor for veterans for 10 years so I came full circle and I feel like my life is a blessing and everything that I've learned since I started losing my vision has helped me develop into becoming a strong and resilient person.
Marc: You never know who might need to hear your story. If you’d like to share with us, just leave us a message on our Insights & Sound Bites voicemail. By calling, 847-512-4867. Or, you can use your smartphone or computer and email us a recording to [email protected].
All Episodes
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Episode 7
Darryl shares with us how a referral to a low vision specialist was where his life with vision loss began to turn around.
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Episode 5
Sharon shares with us how she worked through the isolation and found people just like her to get the support she needed.
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Episode 4
Hannah shares with us how she had to give herself permission to grieve her vision loss in order to reach acceptance.
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Episode 3
Randy's search for help led him into a whole new way of thinking.
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Episode 2
Ruth shares how her mother's advice, "Knock the T Off Can't," helped her.
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Episode 1
Larry shares how he found strength in his core beliefs to get him through the shock of his initial diagnosis.