Avery Brooks has worked at the Summerville facility of The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. for the last seven years. The enthusiasm he has today is similar to the excitement he had when the facility first opened.
On opening day he was one of the speakers, and he got a chance to express his gratitude for the facility, and how the new job fit in to his ever-changing life.
The Lighthouse’s Summerville facility opened in May of 2016, and Avery had gone through a bit of a rocky road in the years prior. In 1990, he first realized he had lost sight in one of his eyes, and after going to specialists and doctors, he learned that his other eye would also eventually lose vision. He had angular glaucoma, and he says that the diagnosis took several years for him to accept.
He’d had a twelve-year career in the U.S. Navy, followed by fifteen years working in a maximum security prison, where he was a supervisor and then director. But in 2001, he left that job, and he struggled with what his future might hold.
“I went through all of the levels of grief,” he said. “For a while, I didn’t care about anything. But finally my wife and daughter sat me down and said, ‘We’re sick of this. You need to get your act together.’ And I needed to be shaken up like that in order to change.”
Avery began volunteering for the VA, and he learned about all of the gadgets and tools that can help you adjust to a life with vision loss.
“It made me think, OK, I can do this. It’s not that bad,” he says. “And then, I learned acceptance, and life started getting better.”
After two years volunteering for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, helping vets from Iraq and Afghanistan who came back to the states with vision loss, Avery was encouraged to apply for the job at the Lighthouse.
He’s now 66 years old, the oldest person working at the facility, but he’s not sure he’s ready to retire anytime soon.
“The Lighthouse has made me a much better person, a much better husband,” Avery says. “And I love my coworkers. I get up in the morning just happy to come to work, knowing that I’m going to be working with a great bunch of people.”
Avery’s attitude is contagious, and he speaks with pride about the seven hundred metal airplane pieces that he and his teammates recently finished buffing for the Boeing 787. Avery has done all kinds of production work in his seven years at the Lighthouse, and he says the jobs have all been interesting and have grown in complexity, which is yet another reason why he loves coming in each day.
Avery has come a long way, and he wants to pass on what he’s been through.
“When people say, ‘Are you sure you’re blind?’, it lets me know that the training I’ve had is working,” he says. “And if I could get on national TV, I would tell people: ‘Hire a person with a disability and you won’t regret it. That person is going to do the best job they can, because they’re grateful to have a job. So hire somebody with a disability, and you will be surprised what they can do.’”
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The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. transforms the lives of people who are blind, Deafblind, and blind with other disabilities. We are leaders in blind employment. Through employment opportunities, we are a catalyst for empowerment. We foster self-confidence and instill a life changing affirmation that independence is possible. From our expertise in cutting-edge technology to our understanding of mobility, we help people who are blind, Deafblind, and blind with other disabilities live fulfilling lives.
