Through Our Eyes: An Ordinary Person
“Everyone has a story,” says Emily. “It might be that they just get up, go to work every day and come home, but it is still their story.” – Emily Cauthon
Emily did not sit; rather, she stood at her desk over her computer. She strained her eyes to read the text on the screen, but all her efforts were in vain. She enlarged the text on her computer screen as much as she could, but it still didn’t work. She had even recently undergone an operation with her doctor’s assurances that it would greatly increase her vision.
It failed.
A Normal Life
“Everyone has a story,” says Emily. “It might be that they just get up, go to work every day and come home, but it is still their story.”
Emily’s began in Raytown, Missouri. She graduated from Raytown High school, attended Longview Community College, got married and eventually had four children.
She worked in the insurance business her entire adult life, even after around age 45 when she began to struggle with her vision. It was in 2017 when Emily finally found out her vision loss was due to diabetic retinopathy when her doctor told her that her right eye was “pretty much shot.”
Despite her doctor’s alarming diagnosis, Emily continued working for several years until she could no longer ignore her failing sight. That’s the day she turned her schedule of clients over to her supervisor and left her office …never to return.
“I couldn’t read important paperwork anymore,” explains Emily. “I couldn’t see photos of vehicles to assess damage. I struggled through it as long as I could but eventually I knew I had to quit.”
Finding Alphapointe
“I couldn’t read important paperwork anymore,” explains Emily. “I couldn’t see photos of vehicles to assess damage. I struggled through it as long as I could but eventually I knew I had to quit.”
After leaving the business that Emily had known for most of her adult life, she spent time she describes as “an unproductive year at home.” Not long after, she was told about Alphapointe by her RSB (Rehabilitation Services for the Blind) caseworker.
When Alphapointe Director of Clinical and Rehabilitation Services, Howard LaRue, contacted her, he invited her to come learn more.
“Before coming to Alphapointe, I had no idea all the different technologies that were available,” says Emily. “I’m so grateful to have been given all these tools that I can now use to continue on with my life.”
“I want to tell my story,” she says. “The only way you can prepare for the future is by looking at the past. And I believe that better than the stories that you tell are the stories that you live.”
The Next Chapter
Once Emily has completed her training at Alphapointe, she plans to return to school for the first time in over 30 years. She will be applying the knowledge and tools she learned her here to get her law degree. She also plans to write her autobiography.
“I want to tell my story,” she says. “The only way you can prepare for the future is by looking at the past. And I believe that better than the stories that you tell are the stories that you live.”
