Seeing Beyond Sight: Blind Children’s Center Board Member Dr. Melissa Contreras Envisions Inclusion and Possibility
Sometimes I close my eyes and stand in place for minutes at a time. I notice the sound of cars or people and wonder how far away they are and in which direction they are moving. I smell cinnamon and sugar somewhere in the distance: maybe a vendor selling delicious churros. My heart beats faster as I feel unsure about how to step safely forward if I have to move. When I do this, I am reminded not only how I depend on my vision to navigate my world, but also how I miss so much when vision is my dominant sense.
Few people know what it’s like to live with vision impairment and blindness. As a health equity advocate, I speak with patients who perceive blindness as something to be avoided, expressing sympathy for people with a condition they have a hard time imagining. I see sighted people avoiding blind people for unknown reasons. It is a strange space I inhabit: as an eye doctor working to prevent vision loss and restore vision, I want sighted people to protect their vision, but I also know that vision loss and blindness present an equally valuable way of being.
While I am sighted, I have experienced life alongside my sister, who is an alumna of Blind Children’s Center (BCC). Being part of BCC’s community, which sees blindness as a beautiful aspect of human diversity, makes me aware and appreciative of differences as assets. Appreciating differences gives us new perspectives; the perspectives I have learned about through lived experience have shown me how people with diverse strengths can contribute to the world. Disability communities demonstrate that reclaiming and reframing identities previously associated with shame or fragility helps normalize these differences and creates a space to feel proud and comfortable.
I am so grateful that Blind Children’s Center welcomes children and families with unconditional inclusion and acceptance. It’s a space where they can be who they are. Parents learn together and are supported as they navigate challenges and celebrate milestones. Children have classmates and friends across a range of abilities, supported by teachers that understand how to help them thrive. The center shows people that blindness isn’t something to hide or feel limited by.
Spaces like BCC help us imagine what the world could be if we acknowledge blindness (as well as other forms of disability) as just another difference among groups of people. I am grateful to share stories of hope, success and possibility with my patients across a range of vision loss. My dream is that — with increased awareness, acceptance and a little imagination — we can design more experiences that are inclusive of all ability types. Then, blindness will no longer be a word associated with limits, but with endless possibilities.
Written by Dr. Melissa Contreras, O.D., MPH, FAAO, a member of the BCC board of directors, sister of a BCC alumna, and Associate Vice President for the Center for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility, Title IX Coordinator at Marshall B. Ketchum University.
