Cleveland Sight Center knows blindness is a spectrum, and that vision loss can be progressive. Losing vision can happen gradually, or all at once. Sometimes, it can be unexpected.

Cleveland Sight Center is ready to help people learn new strategies for continuing to do things when their vision changes.

Ken Bair is an employee in CSC’s Call Center, and recently took advantage of the assistive technology training CSC offers. While he’s lived his entire life legally blind, Ken recently injured his eye, resulting in a detached retina. After a series of complications, taking time off work and visiting different eye doctors, he knew he would have to learn new strategies to adapt to his changing vision.

With the help of CSC’s assistive technology trainers, he learned new software that makes using the computer more accessible.

The software he uses is called Fusion, which combines Zoom Text and JAWS. Zoom Text is a magnification program that adjusts computer monitors to zoom in/out and change contrast (check), and JAWS is a screen reading software.

It’s never easy to pick up a new skill, but Ken put in the work and is getting better each day.

“Cleveland Sight Center has been helpful to me so that I’d be able to come back to work,” Ken said.

His advice for those in a similar situation: “Try not to freak out. Let people know what happened, and hopefully, they’ll be able to understand and work with you so you can eventually get back to work.”

Ken’s appreciative of call center leadership and CSC’s Human Resources team for working with him during this major life adjustment.

“Work is important because it makes you feel like you’re doing something to contribute,” Ken said.

Outside of work, Ken is proud of his time as a Team USA Paralympian. He ran with the Olympic torch in 1996, and the marathon in the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney! At that time, Ken was running anything from a 5k to a marathon. Ken ran the marathon in three hours and four minutes!

The road of adjusting to vision changes is a marathon, not a sprint, although different than the kind Ken is used to running. CSC is happy to support Ken as his vision changes and learns to navigate his job in a new way.