How Envision’s Level Up Conference Helped Me Become the Man I am Today
By Rich Yamamoto • Jul 20, 2022
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I have what’s called Norrie Disease, which is a genetic condition that has left me totally blind since birth. My mom carries the gene and passed it down to me. Not exactly what I meant by an extravagant birthday present, but it works!
So how did I learn about Level Up? Well, the story starts when my mom worked at Envision. I can’t exactly remember what she did there, I think it was assistive technology training of some sort. But while working there, she started getting me involved in Heather’s Camp and a few other programs when I was little. While her time at Envision was short, I continued to participate in more activities through the Youth Programs as I got older. I had heard about the middle school technology camp through my friend and mentor Estin Talavera when I was about to start sixth grade in 2014. I was excited to go. I was looking forward to learning how to use a computer with a screen reader on it. Plus, I got to keep the computer at the end of the program, which was a nice incentive to get me to give it a try.
I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I was going to learn more than just how to use NVDA. I was excited to learn how to use Gmail, various aspects of the internet and Microsoft Word. I still apply the basic skills that I learned from those initial labs to this day. I even still practice typing to see how fast I can write things down in a minute, which is a skill that I learned from the camp.
I think that the things I took away from all the Envision Level Up camps is that advocacy is important, social skills either hire or fire you, and the friendships that you make here are everlasting. I also enjoyed networking with colleges and businesses at the high school conferences. This opportunity gave me the tools to help me discover what exactly I wanted to do with my life. One of the best things about the programs are the Wichita State University (WSU) mentors. The dedication that each mentor shows to their individual student is incredible to watch. I’ve had very good experiences with each of my mentors.
To anyone that’s thinking about registering and attending the Level Up conferences in the future, I say to take the leap and give it a shot. The Level Up community is a really great group of people who care about one another – very much like an extended family. The relationships that I formed while at the conferences have impacted me in a way that is just beyond words. I wouldn’t be the man I am today without the instructors and the WSU mentors that I worked with over the years, and the friendships that I formed along the way.
I think that conferences specifically for students who are blind or visually impaired are really important. Not only do you get to meet people who have overcome obstacles with their disabilities, but you’re also put into a space where you know that you’re not alone. You discover that you’re not the only one struggling with everyday tasks as a person who is blind. I always thought I was the only one trying to make a name for myself, trying to prove to the world that I was worth something, until I attended programs through Envision and other blindness organizations. I realized that I’m just like everyone else, but that I do things slightly differently to compensate for my vision loss.
I am now pursuing a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in secondary English education. Currently, I’m taking classes at the Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC), and I hope to transfer to either MidAmerica Nazarene University or Emporia State University in 2023. After I get my BA, I want to get a few years of teaching experience under my belt before I start working on my master’s as a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TSVI). I feel like there’s a lot of visually impaired students, and several visually impaired teachers, but not many visually impaired teachers who specialize in teaching visually impaired students. I think that being a blind teacher of the visually impaired would be a good way of showing other students that they’re not alone in their struggles with vision loss. I can relate to them better since I went through similar things that they’re going through right now.
To further develop my leadership skills and explore my potential, I have helped manage our student-led podcast at the Kansas State School for the Blind (KSSB) for the past two years. I coordinated guests, hosted episodes, edited episodes, created our intro for our later episodes, published the episodes, and basically did everything that the other hosts didn’t exactly want to or know how to do. My peer, Patrick, helped me in all these areas, and he’s the one that’s been helping me stay up to date with our social media profiles as well. Another student, Mara, helped too, remotely, by adding image descriptions to our pictures on Instagram. People who are blind don’t always know what we’re describing, so it helped to have her give us a hand. I really enjoyed working with the podcast, because it helped me grow and it provided situations for me to learn how best to talk to people in a professional setting. We joked around too, especially in our student group discussions. You can check out our work at the following link: http://discover-podcasting.simplecast.com.
I’m also big into music. I monitor the charts every Friday like a hawk to find out what’s new, what’s coming in the future, and what my favorite artists are putting out. I also produce music, and I’m currently working on some projects that I hope to release by the end of the year. It took me forever to get to where I am now as a producer since I’m doing pretty much everything on my own.
Basically, I am your average young man (maybe a bit above average if I’m being honest), but I just do things slightly different, and I occasionally have to work harder to prove myself to others. I’m glad I took advantage of the youth programs at Envision to help me realize these things and to grow as a person.