| Perception is the way you look at things. It's the | | | | you. Out of absolute sheer desperation, I began |
| meaning you give to something. | | | | to look around and I saw something that made |
| I once heard a woman in a wheelchair say that | | | | no sense to me. |
| when most people look at her wheelchair they | | | | First, I saw people who, in my opinion, had |
| see it as something that confines her, something | | | | everything a person could possibly need to |
| that holds her down. She said, "Oh no, my | | | | succeed and yet many were not. Then I began |
| wheelchair does not confine me. It takes me | | | | to notice people who, in my opinion, had far less |
| places I otherwise could never go." If given an | | | | than what I had but yet they were doing |
| opportunity, where could the challenge of Macular | | | | incredible things with their lives. |
| Degeneration and vision loss take you? | | | | I saw people who could not see and yet they |
| I lost my eyesight when I was eight years old. Do | | | | were attorneys, college professors, investment |
| you think I saw that as being a good thing? | | | | specialists, authors, scientists, inventors, along with |
| Absolutely not. I saw it as being a terrible thing. | | | | others who were enjoying a whole host of other |
| As I grew into my teenage years, I was | | | | careers that I never dreamed would have been |
| becoming more and more angry. I was angry for | | | | possible for a person who is blind or visually |
| being different, angry for having to work so much | | | | impaired. |
| harder than everyone else. My anger exploded | | | | In every case, these successful career people did |
| when the Department of Public Safety told me | | | | not look at their vision loss as a terrible thing. |
| that I could not get my driver's license...just | | | | They maintained a positive perception. As you |
| because I couldn't see! But all of my classmates in | | | | move forward with a confident perception, keep |
| high school were getting their drivers license. It's | | | | in mind the wisdom of Dr. Wayne Dyer who said, |
| not fair that I can't drive, I kept telling myself. | | | | "When you change the way you look at things, |
| I came very close to dropping out of high school | | | | the things you look at change. |
| and to just giving up on life. So why didn't I? I'll tell | | | | |