A teenage boy from McIntosh, Minnesota begins to lose his sight. His father, a local doctor, enlists the help of his fellow doctors across the state to save his son's vision. After almost two years, Karsten and his father come to the conclusion that Karsten will be blind for the rest of his life. Everything must change, but what are the best paths to take? He struggles with the assumptions of others that his life-long goals can never be obtained, or can they? This book travels with Karsten...

From a single-parent home came a young woman who would not let others' misplaced kindnesses keep her down. Family and friends all praised Pauline for her intelligence and hard work, but when it came to providing her with a chance at a job, well that was another thing. Undaunted, Pauline joined and became active in many groups and organizations in the Santa Fe, New Mexico, community, taking on projects no one else wanted to do in order to be accepted, and it worked. But still she had no job...

John Brown Herreshoff built all kinds of boats for recreation as well as for the military. But he is most remembered for the many yachts that he built that won the America's Cup. Blinded as a teen, he used his love for boats to work through and overcome his blindness. What he loved the most, boats, brought him through his depression and into the light of success. His life reflects his adventurous spirit. But did you know that he also had several blind brothers and sisters?The Herre...

Edward Campbell had a happy, adventurous childhood and grew up to follow his dreams, exploring the world through chemistry. Then one day, while teaching class, it all could have ended. But Edward Campbell took a short spring break to deal with the results of the accident, permanent blindness and took back control of his life and his dream.From then on, he did not let blindness define him or his work. With no other role models, he had to re-invent the wheel of teaching and explorati...

A story of Gussie Mast and her other disabled siblings go through the changes in the education of the blind and indeed, the education and employment options for the disabled in the state of California from the mid 1800's to the mid 1900's. Although each child in the family presented with the same background, education and support services, little that they were at that time, found very different paths.Gussie was the youngest, cute and musical. This brought her the attention of the ...

Blinded at age 13, John Swearingen faced a fierce battle to receive an education as a blind youth in his home community. As an adult, he met prejudice and roadblocks to enter college, graduate, find employment as a teacher and acceptance in the state of South Carolina. Because of his own experience with discrimination, John developed a strong vision of a quality education for all, no matter their status in life. Years after graduating from college at the top of his class and not allowed to...

George Tannehill became a teacher at the Iowa College for the Blind in the late 1860's while a student, after losing his vision as a young adult. From then on, he was the math teacher that even his sighted peers in education wished they could be. His blind students were far better at college level math than most in the state of Iowa.George also was a politician, community builder and leader for the Vinton area. Read on to learn his techniques for preparing the blind of Iowa in the ...

Albert Gonzales came from a family that touched much of the New Mexico History from the 1850's on up through today. Albert, a blind attorney, judge, real estate investor, community leader and much, much more left his mark in New Mexico history with some of his legal cases involving Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Reies Tijerina. Learn why other attorney's in the Santa Fe area disapproved of Albert's fees for service. After Albert was blinded in an accident, he quickly discovered that any he...

He wanted to be a singing cowboy on the big screen. He became the cowboy on the little screen throughout Texas in the early 1950s and became a childhood staple for more than two decades. Yet very few knew he was blind for more than a decade! Even after Don came out about his blindness, Don worked hard to minimize who knew. A career that span four decades, Don lived his dream of becoming an entertainer, loved by all. Read how he used simple tricks to get around in strange cities, studios an...

A blind man as a publisher of a newspaper? Yes, in fact, he published several newspapers. Blinded as an adult, he felt that he could no longer be a banker, his first profession and chose to follow through on his second profession, publishing a local newspaper. One newspaper lead to another and before long, he was managing several Nebraska newspapers. With no training in blindness, he set out to do the best he could to support his young family.Today, a great-grandson still heads the...

Monroe Fox lost his eyesight when his ship was hit the night before D-Day. His life was changed forever. Learn how Monroe dealt with his rehabilitation, his transition back to civilian life and the building of his future in Chama, New Mexico. As with so many returning vets, WWII drastically changed the course of his life. Although he never wanted others to know, he struggled with Post-Traumatic Stress from his service. Yet, The blind man went on to become the only blind attorney in Chama f...

Blinded as a child, sent to a school for the blind and losing his father at an early age might have narrowed the prospects for many young men. But not Woodlee. Leaving his home state of Tennessee, Woodlee left for Iowa and then New Mexico where he set up a small chiropractic business that soon thrived. As a blind man, he wanted access to the same options as his fellow sighted doctors, but it was up to him to find the way.