Carrie’s Story

Note to Readers…

Hello! My name is Carrie Morales and thank you for being interested in my story!

I’m a visually impaired creator, accessibility tester and advocate, tech enthusiast, and mother. I don’t see myself as anyone especially out of the ordinary. I’m just a humble creation of an almighty creator, as we are all– I live day to day just like everyone else.

Though it constantly surprises me, I find myself in a position where I can be a leading voice and advocate for the blind and visually impaired community. This is a responsibility that I carry with a deep sense of purpose.

Perhaps you’ve seen some of my videos or heard of what I do– or maybe you haven’t and you have no idea who I am. Whatever circumstances or situation led you here, whether you are blind, sighted, or in-between, I hope my humble story can encourage you in some way.

Born with Aniridia Syndrome

I am the youngest of three children all born with disabilities. I was born in the Philippines with Aniridia Syndrome; a hereditary eye condition where the iris is underdeveloped. As with most Aniridia cases, my condition came with additional complications such as glaucoma, severe nystagmus, and cataracts.

Aniridia is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. This is a fancy way of saying that every child who has a parent with Aniridia has a 50% chance of inheriting the gene abnormality. In my father’s family Aniridia was passed down to 4 out of the five children. This included my father, two aunts and an uncle. In the next generation, Aniridia included me, my sister and 3 out of 10 cousins. And after us, my son.

My brother was not born with Aniridia. If he had children, it would not be passed on to them. However, my brother is deaf and faces a different set of challenges.

Growing up Legally Blind in a Family Affected by Different Disabilities

Growing up and not being the only person in the family with a disability was comforting and empowering.

With my family, I never felt like the odd one out. We all struggled together. It was completely ordinary for my dad to be blind and go to work or take care of us at home when my mom was the only one working. It was normal for my brother to have his best friend, also deaf, come over or for me to sign to him what was going on with his video games before captioning became a common practice. It wasn’t weird at all for my sister and I to wrap Christmas presents right next to each other because neither of us could see what the other was wrapping. Thinking about it now, my mom was truly amazing, but growing up, we took it for granted that she was the sole driver, the main guide, and my brother’s voice.

But as you may have experienced for yourself, families can give us a soft place to land, but can’t, and shouldn’t always shelter us from the rest of the world. Growing up, I was extremely shy. Meeting new people, going to new places, going to school or church, I was the odd one out. I felt my blindness. I felt small as classmates stared at me when I walked from classroom to classroom carrying enormous large-print books and being followed by an aid rolling my clunky magnifier “CCTV” on a squeaky cart. I felt awkward when teachers seated me at the very front of the classroom and what was written on the board was still invisible. I felt embarrassed when I was picked on, labeled as “weird” because my eyes constantly moved due to nystagmus. I felt helpless when the eye doctor gave me glasses that made no difference, and voiceless when school administrators considered the possibility that I might be suffering with additional impairments. There’s no other way to say it, some days, being legally blind was just awful.

It helped to attend events and programs run by the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. I met and made friends with others growing up with blindness, visual impairment, and other disabilities. I especially enjoyed being with friends for two weeks every summer at a camp for the blind. We hiked, swam, played games, did arts and crafts, talked all night, and laughed a lot without ever thinking about our limitations. It would be something we anticipated and planned for all year long. But then, it would be over just like that. Soon I’d be entering into a new school year to face a whole new set of challenges and my lack of self-confidence would quickly return to taunt me.

Thinking about it now, even then, technology was one of the few things that cheered me up and sparked my interest. My Vision Teacher (VI) brought me new devices to try. I spent hours exploring the different settings of magnifiers, talking dictionaries, talking book players, and Braille notetakers. I loved to press and explore every button on my own. Then I would read the manuals and see what I missed. (Or at least, I did sometimes!) I liked trying out each feature. It was a time when there was a different device for every task, but it always excited me to see something new that worked better than what came before it.

Inspired to Empower Others

My father is one of the most inspiring people in my life. Partly because he encouraged my interest in technology, but mostly because of his excellent character. His love for God, his sacrificial dedication to his family, his hard work, and his persistence and endurance through every difficult circumstance imaginable, modeled for me someone who could succeed while being blind. He also helped me understand that success is more than your career or money and that it can be different for everyone.

Like me, he was the youngest. And with five other siblings in the family, he struggled with decreased resources. Despite this and falling through the gaps of an unaccommodating education system—still, he persevered. He gained skills seemingly impossible for the blind, particularly in the Philippines. He became knowledgeable and skillful in electricity, plumbing, carpentry, electronics, and computer programming. To this day, he is the “fixer” of all things and everyone in the family, blind or sighted, calls him whenever there’s a problem. 

My aunts and uncles, their lives dealing with Aniridia, and their stories and careers, also encourage me to strive. One aunt lost her sight in high school and earned a college degree without any access to assistive technology. For over 40 years she independently traveled all throughout the villages as a social worker helping other disabled individuals and families. My uncle lost his sight early in his adult life. But still, he graduated from seminary, became a Pastor, and later, an entrepreneur.

My aunt Tina, also totally blind, is another inspiring person in my life. In the Philippines she worked in education with a background in psychology and communication. She thrived as a public advocate, speaker, writer, and a TV personality, entrepreneur, and business owner. She is incredibly eloquent and has the innate ability to connect with anyone.

She and my father worked together to start and manage a preschool for children with disabilities—a marginalized part of society in the Philippines. They also founded ATRIEV, an assistive technology program that trained the blind and visually impaired to use the power of technology to enhance their lives and opportunities. Today she continues her work here in the US. She is my cheerleader and advisor in life as well as my professional endeavors.  

Finally, my parent’s decision to leave everything they had in the Philippines to relocate to the United States to give their three disabled children a better future is a significant inspiration to me. Yes, it was their dream to give their children an opportunity to succeed in a more accommodating, accessible, and inclusive country. Because of what they did, my work with Carrie on Accessibility can continue the work of the previous generation and their desires to empower the blind and visually impaired community.

Joining the Workforce

Even as I witnessed amazing examples of success, life is difficult, and it’s even harder with a disability. There were moments that having a family who could relate to my challenges was not enough. Self-doubt paralyzed me at times. I thought they were just the exceptions. Though I could see the success they achieved, I also had a front row seat to the difficulties they faced. Those challenges sometimes felt insurmountable.

As I grew older, I had my fair share of other struggles unrelated to my disability. After high school, I set off to college in New York for a year, then dropped out. I didn’t know what I wanted and had no motivation, no direction in my life. My family moved down to North Carolina and I joined them. 

My first job was manufacturing glasses for veterans at an organization that hired blind and low vision individuals. Imagine that – blind people making glasses! This first plunge into the workforce was a major change, especially working alongside my father. 

Culture shock was also a factor. Moving from New Jersey where people minded their own business and stayed away from strangers to North Carolina where people chatted as if they were long time friends when meeting for the first time was quite a change. Why were people calling me sweetheart and whatever else, men and women alike? Why were people telling me their whole life story? I had no idea how to react as someone shy and unassuming.

I witnessed people with varying amounts of vision, of all ages and backgrounds handle challenges successfully in different ways. I also observed less successful ways of approaching disability. Exposure to these different perspectives deeply influenced the way I thought about my blindness.

While I worked in production, I found every opportunity (some might call them excuses) to visit and explore the low vision center that was in the same building. I was drawn to the technology and other products there. I couldn’t help myself! I had to try it all out – from the different magnifiers, talking watches, clocks, games, labellers, pens, bold line paper and all the other products. Perhaps it was because I was so frequently there, they decided to have me work for them part time. I can imagine my manager then thinking, “If we can’t get her to stop coming over here, we might as well put her to work!”

I later moved from the manufacturing floor to receptionist, then finally they gave me a full time position at the low vision center. Working there was one of the things that set me on a path to doing what I’m doing today. I got to be around what I love, technology. I gained new skills, guiding people to find the tools that would be most helpful for them. I gained new and exciting experiences, being part of the mobile eye clinic team. We traveled around North Carolina giving eye exams and assistive tech to children and seniors. This was the highlight of working at the low vision center.

Learning to be a Content Creator

Life went on and I got married to my now ex-husband and we had a son, Joseph. Like me, he was born with Aniridia and is legally blind. Joseph is the most precious, amazing and best blessing of my life.

Financially, it made sense for me to stay home with my baby – and I also did not want to leave him. Once he began sleeping through the night and I got used to being a mom, I found that I had more time on my hands than I thought. I missed the work I did and wanted to continue making a positive impact in some way.

While I was working at the Low Vision Center, I had brought up the idea of creating videos on how to use some of the tech we carried for both marketing and simply getting the information to a wider audience. The marketing department was not very fond of the idea though. So when I found time, I dove headfirst into a YouTube education about social media and starting a YouTube channel. This pursuit consumed me for about 6 months.

I had no experience with videography, graphic design, or content creation. Neither did I have the equipment or software or good lighting even. I started with a $20 Boya lavalier microphone and a Pixel 4A 5G or it may have even been a Nexus 6P!

I published my first video on the Live Accessible YouTube channel on November 1, 2018 about how to use the iPhone Zoom magnification feature. I felt incredibly proud when I racked up 50 views, but felt crushing inadequacy as 50 views felt pitiful compared to what popular YouTubers could achieve.

But I’ve been called stubborn before and I had no intention to give up or slow down. It also helped that during my research, all this was as expected. Many have said something along the lines of “Your first 100 videos will be the worst videos you ever make.” Intellectually I understood this, but it took years before I truly understood and accepted it as truth. What I don’t understand is why people are still watching that video! It has over 23,000 views now and counting. Sometimes, I want to delete it and wrench it out of existence because it’s objectively not a very good video. 

I gained experience the only way I could – making more and more (and more) videos. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea that some creators have a hard time finding video ideas. I’ve been bursting with them since I began and still, my struggle is prioritization of video topics and limited time.

NOTE: Wow! You made this far, thank you! The story will be continued soon!