Jumping into Blindness with Both Feet

Barbi Constancio refuses to let fear stop her from doing anything. While she describes losing her vision to glaucoma as “tilting her whole world,” she quickly leaned on her faith and found purpose.

“I always had prayed to be used by God, but this was not what I had planned,” Barbi said laughing. “Still, I knew God must have a bigger plan.”

Barbi had seen her uncles battle glaucoma while she was growing up, with one even losing an eye to the disease. By the time she was in her 20s, she had started taking eye drops to combat the high pressure in her own eyes from the beginning stage of glaucoma. She followed doctors’ orders, also making sure to eat foods that promoted good eye health. By 2020, the eye drops were no longer working, and her visual clarity began to diminish. Surgery was unsuccessful, and her vision deteriorated rapidly from then on.

“I was working full-time driving forklifts as a supervisor at Home Depot and buying a home,” Barbi said. “I was not ready to open my eyes and not be able to see.”

She can still see some light and dark and some movement, but mostly she describes her vision as a snowy TV screen. She said she had some “meltdown moments” during her journey through vision loss, including realizing she would not get to see her grandsons as they grew up. But she also experienced a breakthrough moment realizing God was still in control.

“I felt this whole weight of grief and emotion lifted, and I was like, okay I’m back,” Barbi said.

Barbi decided to schedule an eye assessment at Kaiser, in case they could give her any new resources, and they put her in touch with the Department of Rehabilitation, which connected her to Society for the Blind. She was so encouraged when she left her initial appointment that she signed up for all four of our Core classes at once: assistive technology, braille, living skills, and orientation and mobility. She is now working part-time at Home Depot and taking classes at Society for the Blind. She said she especially loves assistive technology.

“I’m a computer geek and always on my phone,” Barbi said. “I like figuring out how things work, so I don’t let something stop me just because I need to figure it out.”

Barbi likes braille because it gives her the opportunity to have quiet instead of always relying on audio, and she is excited to learn some “hacks” for cooking. She has felt the most apprehensive about orientation and mobility, but she also describes it as the most foundational because she values her independence.

“I’m not going to stay stuck,” Barbi said. “If I’m afraid, I’m going to do it anyway with both feet in and hope for the best. Usually, it’s not as bad as we think it’s going to be.”

Now the 52-year-old loves spending time with her husband, two daughters and three grandsons. She says she has a great support system of family and friends, including the new friendships she has made at Society for the Blind.

“That’s what I’ve gotten the most out of Society for the Blind,” Barbi said. “I get to meet people going through the same thing and see them live. They’re not letting blindness rule and dictate their lives. I mean I’m a thrill seeker, so I was like, ‘We can still go skiing without vision?!’”

She also credits her daughters with helping her move through vision loss.

“My oldest is 33 years old and a lot like me, so she would listen but then get down to what we need to do, no nonsense. I just love that,” Barbi said. “My 20-year-old smiles all the time and inspired me to start smiling. That’s all I do now, so my cheeks hurt! I’m so blessed to have such great kids.”

Meanwhile, Barbi is finding new ways to excel at her job at Home Depot, where her husband and daughter work too.

“I’m working on learning several apps that will help me be even more helpful to the store,” she said. “I would like to be able to challenge myself more because I get bored quickly. I’m going to work with our delivery team on an app – that’s my challenge this Friday.”

She says Home Depot has been a very supportive company throughout the process, as has her store manager. Her coworkers are also great, but they still get concerned when she climbs up ladders to stock items.

“I always tell them, my feet aren’t broken,” she said laughing.

Barbi said she recently found a great metaphor to describe life without vision while talking to a customer.

“It’s like a scavenger hunt,” she said. “You get little clues here and there as you try to feel with your hands and listen to sounds while learning new skills to open up opportunities. I’m all about games and puzzles. Being blind can be hard, but it’s also been kind of exciting.”