My Live Living Blind

I feel that before I can start sharing some of stories and experiences on the Medium platform I need to explain a few things first.

First off, my name is Kaylee Park and I was born legally blind. I grew up in a TINY town in southern Idaho.

My parents knew pretty quickly that there was something wrong with my eyes but none of the doctors they took me to could make a diagnosis. The doctors told my parents things like “Your child is just very clumsy” or “Your child might be mentally disabled”. My parents knew that neither of these were correct.

Finally, one doctor sent me to a specialist in Salt Lake City, Utah. I was diagnosed with an eye condition called, Cone and Rod Dystrophy (CRD).

Basically, this means that I do not have enough cones and rods in my retina. Cones are the part of the eye responsible for detailed vision and colors. Rods help people see in the dark, and adjust from dark to light settings.

This explained a lot for my parents.

I went through school with very few accommodations. Due to the small size of the school district that I attended, I believe that they thought they could get away with not providing me with the help I needed to be successful.

Luckily, my mom is a teacher in another school district and was fully aware of the legal responsibilities required of the school district.

After fighting this battle with the school district for ten years I transferred to a school for the blind while still being main streamed into public school.

This made a huge difference in my education.

I graduated from high school as the valedictorian of my class in 2016.

I am now 23 years old, attending college, with the goal of one day becoming a substance abuse counselor.

On this platform I intend to write about my experience being legally blind with the hope of showing others that it is possible to have a disability and still do great things in life.

I want to educate the general population on what it is like to live life as a disabled person. We need to make a change in the way that disabled individuals are spoken to, thought of, and treated by the “normal” people.

Change can not happen unless there is a conversation about the issues