Written by Jill Schwendenmann
O n a table against a wall in Michelle Salomone’s Ohio State office lays a decorative canvas, neatly etched with letters spelling out, “perseverance.” Five picture frames containing photos of herself and two young boys lay asymmetrically beneath the decoration. The middle frame contained a photo taken at her graduation. Salomone has never actually seen these images but she feels them with her heart.
Michelle Salomone fully lost her sight in 2000 caused by a tumor that sped the severity of her pre-existing eye disease, but later graduated from Ohio State and was hired to work as an Access Specialist in the Office of Disabilities. While some people might find despair in blindness, Salomone finds hope and purpose, as it has led her to help others.
“Most people that are blind would not have a lot of photographs, its weird isn’t it, but when you lose your vision you still hold on to a lot of visual things,” she said in a soft voice.
Salomone spent six years as a preschool teacher in Powell, Ohio. As her eye disease progressed her vision began to decrease and she felt like she had to quit her job. She no longer could keep track of the energetic 5-year-olds that she loved getting to see everyday and felt like she needed a break from work to focus on her family and slowly adjust to the decline of her sight.
After she quit being a teacher, her vision loss seemed to rapidly regress. The once slow, progressive disease she thought she could prepare for began to change pace. She fully lost her sight in early 2000 because of a benign brain tumor that sped the severity of her pre-existing eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa, most commonly known as RP. She said she was thankful it was not cancerous, but had not prepared to lose all of her vision in such a short amount of time.
It was hard for Salomone to adapt to a new lifestyle, a life where monochromatic shades of grey, both dark and light replaced vibrant colors. Details of scenes and people she once was able to see now looked like geometrical shapes. She never actually physically saw her sons grow up, only was she able to spend time with them to take care of them since she quit her job.
As she approached turning 40-years-old, she decided she wanted to go back to school. She said that she initially wanted to go to a smaller school because it would have been easier to navigate, but was told by her counselor from vocational rehabilitation services, that Ohio State offers more resources to her that a smaller school would not have.
“I thought at first, that’s really ridiculous for a blind person to go to such a big school like Ohio State, but she was right there were a lot of resources,” said Salomone.
Like most students, Salomone was not sure what she wanted to do, or even could do. She earned her bachelor’s degree in human ecology in 2007 and went back to enroll in the social work master’s program which she completed in 2011.
She said it didn’t occur to her until her last year of her masters program that she would like to do an internship within the Office of Disability Services. Disability Services was a place of comfort and confidence for Salomone for the last five years. There she advocated to her Access Specialist, Chris Keck, for an internship to be created and a space was made. Once graduated, Salomone ended up taking Chris Keck’s spot and has been there ever since. She currently works as one of the five Access Specialists at Ohio State, helping several hundred students this autumn semester.
One student, in particular is unique in the fact that he was a student of Salomone when she used to teach preschool at Smokey Row Children’s Center. Jon Tirrell is excited about graduating this December and has been meeting with Salomone for the past four years.
Jon initially was assigned to another Access Specialist his first year of college, but did not feel a connection and was not getting the support he needed. He then was assigned to Salomone and said that she acted as a mother figure, and was able to make a lasting impression on him that offered guidance and support.
“She works in a department where she’s providing all these services for people with disabilities, and she’s mastered so much,” he said. “It’s pretty cool to see her utilize everything at her fingertips to overcome her own disabilities.”
Jon said Salomone continues to look after him, making sure he’s staying on track with schoolwork and even reaches out to him on holidays.
Although she still misses being a preschool teacher, Salomone believes that being an Access Specialist is what she is truly meant to do.
Salomone said, “I loved being a preschool teacher, it was sad to leave, but then to find something several years later, that’s even better, I’m really lucky, I never thought that would happen.”
