Ciara graduates from the Colorado Center for the Blind on Thursday. Yesterday, she completed her “Drop.” The Drop is the final travel challenge for our students when we “drop” them in an unknown location and they must use all the analog skills they’ve been learning and practicing for nine months to get back to the Center. That means using the sun to sort out cardinal directions, finding a busy street and then a bus stop, and asking only one question of the general public.
Sound scary? Ciara felt great when she returned.
“I feel so empowered,” she said. “When I came here 9 months ago, I was afraid to walk down the sidewalk. Now I’m going places!”
“Going” places includes her Monster Route, which she also finished recently. That assignment requires students to plan a one-day trip on public transit with four new destinations in four Denver Metro cities. One of those locations, a restaurant in Denver serving New Orleans cuisine, was closed when she got there.
“I was walking down the street, smelling something good and thought there has to be something around here,” she said of the new restaurant she discovered that day.
“I was so boxed in,” she recalls of her life in small towns in Kansas. “When I first got here, I couldn’t imagine I could ever do these things,” she says of the Drop and Monster Route, as well as classes in Tech, Braille and Home Management. “Now all my ‘can’ts’ have turned into ‘cans.’”
Ciara began posting as Divah Speaks on TikTok in 2020, but didn’t start sharing her story about losing her vision until 2021. That’s where she first encountered a supportive community of blind people. That’s also where she first realized that there could be more for her, and she wanted more for her life. One of her friends was in training at one of our sister NFB centers, doing all kinds of things.
“I want to do those things,” Ciara realized, and ultimately decided to come to the Colorado Center for the Blind.
“Going places” also describes Ciara’s future. She moves into a new apartment this month. She will work part-time for the Center at our front desk. She’s active in her church, working in the nursery (she loves working with the little ones) and serving on the community outreach board. She will start at Arapahoe Community College next fall. Early Childhood Education, perhaps?
First, though, she will cook and serve a meal for the entire Center and her guests. Red beans and rice for about 60 people in all. She’s already in the kitchen working on it, smiling all the time.
“So many things have fallen into place for me. So many friends. So much community. Such a family I never had before.”
We believe blind people can do anything, and that with a supportive, positive community of other blind people they can pursue their dreams, just like Ciara.
Your donation for Colorado Gives Day (Dec. 10) supports our training programs that teach our students to believe that they can pursue their dreams! All donations between now and Dec. 10 count toward our Colorado Gives Day total, and a percentage of the $1 Million Incentive Fund from First Bank.
Daniel J. Burke, M.S.
Public Relations Specialist
