"I found my community"

Hadley

I Found My Community

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.

Appreciate Wellspring: You're not the only person that's struggling.

Douglas: My name is Douglas Walker. It takes a lot of courage to seek out the help you need. Especially when you’re feeling really isolated. Today, we’ll hear from Appreciate. She will share with us how joining a Facebook group took her life to a whole new level.

Appreciate Wellspring: I am Appreciate Wellspring. I'm originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. And I've just recently moved, I'm in Tennessee right now. I lost my vision in 2019. I had a migraine and the inflammation from the migraine closed the circulation or the blood flow in my brain. So, I've lost verbal use, I lost use of my left side, and of course, then my vision as well.

There's a group of friends on Facebook, it's called the International Blind Cafe, and this is a group of people that we all are in different stages of the spectrum of blindness.

But this group has been instrumental as well to healing and knowing that you're not the only person that's struggling with not wanting to be seen when you're eating, or the feeling when you use your white cane.

It's so eye opening to finally feel a part of a group, a community. Because at the very beginning when you're going through this alone.

And it's great to have this community of people that they're in my background and they're cheering me on, go, go, go.

Douglas: Was there something that someone said to you or something that happened along the way that made all the difference in the world in helping you adjust to living with vision loss?

We‘d love to hear from you 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]. Again, my name is Douglas Walker. Take care and I’ll see you next time.