Two years ago, CSC shared Joyce’s story with donors, friends and social media followers. At that time, Joyce was pursuing a full-time job and living independently. Now, Joyce is happier than ever with a new job at Cleveland Sight Center and even more independence!

 Joyce began working at Cleveland Sight Center in the springtime of 2024 as the Share the Vision Coordinator. As CSC’s Share the Vision Coordinator, Joyce is responsible for ensuring this peer-to-peer mentoring group is a success.

Share the Vision is designed to connect individuals who are new to vision loss with trained volunteers to discuss the anxieties and fears associated with losing vision. The volunteer is well-adapted to vision loss and provides one-on-one support to foster hope, encouragement and independence through monthly telephone calls. Part of Joyce’s role is to make sure everything is going well between the volunteer mentors and their partners.

“I call my mentors once a month because I want to check on them,” said Joyce. “I let them know they're valuable to me. I call the partners to make sure they're okay.”

As someone who has been a client of CSC since 1975, Joyce knows the ups and downs of navigating vision loss. She wants to use her personal experience to connect with Share the Vision participants and encourage them to take the necessary steps to take their happiness into their own hands.

“I'm happy, and I love what I do, because I'm helping people like myself,” Joyce said. “Helping them to come up and to know that they too can live independently.”

Like many members of the blind and visually impaired community, Joyce relies on paratransit to get around Northeast Ohio. Often when she’s waiting for her ride home from work, she gets to talk to people new to vision loss. She often gives them advice:

“Hey, all things are possible!” Joyce says. “You just gotta get up and get going. Don't talk about it, be about it! Let's go!”

Starting a new job always has an adjustment period, and the biggest obstacle with this job is learning to navigate the software with client information in it. Joyce is working with an assistive technology trainer at CSC to figure it out, and she’s determined to do so!

“I'm gonna conquer this,” Joyce says.

Joyce has come a long way in the past two years, and we’re sure the next two years will be full of more goals, hard work and gumption!

“Just because you have limited vision, doesn't mean you have to limit your life,” Joyce said.