When Love is (Literally) Blind: My Blind Parents’ Story
Welcome to my new blog. My book, The Sound of Her Voice: My Blind Parents’ Story will be available soon on Amazon. While the book covers many aspects of my parents lives, there were numerous stories, photos, and newspaper articles that I couldn’t include. This blog will be a place to enjoy those stories and photos.
My parents never knew what I looked like, nor did they ever see each other. Both were totally blind and had been since early childhood. Mom and Dad were born with glaucoma. Most people know of glaucoma as an older person’s eye disease; babies with congenital glaucoma are very rare. Even more unusual, they were born within 60 miles and four months of each other.
My mother, Jane Small, grew up on a farm near Wabash, Indiana. She remembered winter rides to church through the snow in a horse-drawn sleigh, huddled in wool blankets with her sisters. Electricity wasn’t installed until the late 1930s; she was glad when the dangerous, smelly kerosene lamps were removed from the house and stored in the barn.
She didn’t allow her poor vision to stop her from having many adventures on the farm with her two sisters. Jane rode their horse, Old Paint, with her sister Ruth or Irma, often going for long summer rides. She insisted on being in front to steer the horse, though she could only see blurry shapes. I’m pretty sure that Old Paint knew the terrain very well, and mishaps were few.
Life as Jane slowly lost her vision was frightening and frustrating. She faced challenges at home and school as both her mother and teachers told her, “You’re blind. You can’t _____ (fill in the blank).” Yet she rose above those limitations to lead a productive, active life, raising four children of her own.
As the youngest child, I have unique insights into how she overcame the negativity she faced from those who discouraged her and the difficulties that she faced every day of her life. I hope that you will join me in future blogs as I add more stories and photos; I’ll next spotlight my father’s childhood in Muncie, IN.
