Born sighted, Lark Braun became visually impaired when she was five years old as the result of brain cancer; her optic nerve detached from her retinas. Lark attended the Washington State School for the Blind beginning when she was seven years old. Her education there included vocational studies, and she graduated with her high school diploma when she was 21 years old. From there, it was her goal to work at Inland Northwest Lighthouse (INL).
“I pretty much knew I wanted to work at INL right out of school,” she states. She applied in July 2009, and she began work at the Spokane facility in March 2010. But when she started, it wasn’t as though she was walking into her new work environment knowing no one. Lark knew President and CEO Kirk Adams from chapter meetings of the National Federation of the Blind in Spokane. Two of her childhood friends also worked in production at INL, and Director of Recruiting Don Helsel visited her school to talk about job opportunities.
At INL, Lark works on both the wallboard and easel production lines. “I like it all. It’s busy work, and I like to be busy. I like the socializing, and I love to build stuff.” When asked about how the Lighthouse has benefited her, Lark says, “It’s helped to improve my self-confidence and gave me more encouragement and hope in finding work being a blind individual.”
