Nicki's View

I want to attend Stanford after I graduate from high school. If I don’t manage a full scholarship, it’s a ‘no go’ due to availability of funds at home. My main objective is to look for a college with a good political science program. I really want to go into a branch of law, either civil rights, environmental law, or criminal law. I’m undecided at this point.

I want to live on my own someday, away from home. With some planning and a lot of hard work, I may just make it…to college and being independently on my own.

Of course you are wondering why those two goals would be so different than any other teenager’s thoughts or wants. They aren’t. What makes my goals a bit more difficult to achieve is that I am blind. I also have Cerebral Palsy; I use a walker/wheelchair unless I am at home because I have spastic diplegia (say that fast four times). I also have glaucoma and experience severe pain behind my eyes. All good reasons to stay at home, become a recluse, break out a bottle of pills, and feel sorry for myself, right? Completely wrong!

I was born 15 weeks early, weighing in at 1 lb. 8 oz. The blindness I have is called retinopathy of prematurity (the retina detaches from the eye) and is usually caused by a lack of oxygen. A simple mistake of allowing the incubator that housed me to become too hot caused my loss of sight. Being without sight does not mean that I am at a loss; it simply means I am at a disadvantage in a world that is geared for visual.

My caretaker, friend, and mother, is a single parent. Yes, I have a father; one that left when I was seven. There is no reason to discuss a person that has no heart and no family values so I leave him where he is – the loss is his, not mine. My mother has taken care of me as long as I can remember. She’s the true version of what mothers are all about. While I have no desire to be a mother, I feel the depth of her devotion and caring, and can only imagine the road she has traveled to provide for me.

I cope with a world where I try to find a niche, one where I can fit and feel comfortable, one where I have opportunities to improve, one where I can express myself and be understood. I resolve to grow each day and learn more about myself, my situation, and hopefully exchange ideas with others that want to know what my life is like, show me part of theirs, and possibly help someone that is where I am or have been.

Don’t think that small packages aren’t filled with life and dreams. We are. Share Nicki’s View with me, leave a comment, post a thought, I want to hear from you.