- I opened my eyes,
and I asked my boyfriend at the time
why the lights were off,
and there was no sun coming in from the windows,
in which he said that there were.
And, at first I thought he was joking,
but he wasn't.
And, my life has never been the same since.
(somber music)
- Hello everyone, I'm Julian, and I am legally blind.
- Hi, I'm Brit Werner, and I'm blind,
as well as visually impaired.
The titles, visually impaired and blind,
is very personal for everyone in our community,
so we all identify differently.
I use both, because I am both.
- It's a daily learning experience having to learn
how to do things with changing vision,
especially when it's decreasing.
- Sometimes I can see a little bit,
but it changes by the minute.
And sometimes I can't see at all,
so I'm fully in the dark.
- My blindness is caused by a genetic condition known
as leber's congenital amaurosis.
The main component is that I don't see at all
when it's dark.
In the daylight I see better, but as I've gotten older,
my vision has steadily decreased.
- I lost my vision two years ago overnight,
after getting a routine eye muscle surgery for a lazy eye.
For me, losing the majority of my vision overnight,
felt like someone had lit my world on fire,
and had turned off the television, which was my life.
So I came in with neurological symptoms.
Seeing double, seeing darkness, light spots,
just going blind altogether.
And they told me it was just a routine lazy eye,
which it was definitely not, and didn't do an MRI.
Six weeks later, I woke up with most of my vision gone.
I opened my eyes, and I asked my boyfriend at the time,
why the lights were off, and there was no sun coming in
from the windows, in which he said that there were.
And, at first I thought he was joking, but he wasn't.
And, my life has never been the same since.
I have something called a hemiplegic migraine
and POTS, P-O-T-S.
A hemiplegic migraine is a migraine condition,
neurological condition, that mimics a stroke.
So basically, it looks and feels like I'm having a stroke,
and I go completely blind,
but I don't have an actual stroke,
so I do eventually come back with help.
And I've had thousands of them.
The neurological conditions I have showed up
after I went blind.
What was the most surprising thing
that I got from going blind,
was that I'm a happier person now
than I was when I was sighted.
And that's not something I would ever expect,
but the person that I became,
and the inner strength that I found,
because of my blindness and medical conditions,
has made me a better person.
It's made me a better daughter, a better partner,
a better author, and a happier person in general.
And I don't think I would go back and change it,
because the world that I see now, even though I can't see,
is a better world that I could see, when I could see.
Especially with what you encounter
from people that are ableist, or presume that you're dumb,
or also have other disabilities.
Presume that you're not intelligent,
because you have a disability.
People that don't wanna help you.
I've been turned away from stores,
because I'm visually impaired.
I've been turned away from hair salons,
'cause they're too afraid to do my hair,
because I can't see.
But on the same note, I've seen all the worst of humanity.
The people that try to prank me.
The times I've been assaulted and groped,
because they know they can get away with it
'cause I can't see their face.
I've also seen the best, on a daily basis,
from people that you would never expect.
- So I think that sometimes they'll see me
at an intersection getting ready to cross the street,
and it's a busy intersection,
and they just see this poor blind guy
about to cross this big street with all these cars,
and they're thinking in their mind,
"Disaster, if that were me tryin' to cross that street,
"for sure I'd get hit."
So they'll run up to me, "Wait, wait, wait, wait."
And grab you, or yell at you (laughs).
That's a little disconcerting to me,
because I'm trying to listen to the traffic,
that's how I cross the street is I listen,
and pay attention to the flow of the traffic.
Sometimes their idea of help isn't my idea of help.
If they were to put themselves in my shoes,
some stranger comes grabbing you and yelling at you,
what're you gonna do?
Your first instinct is to try to push that person away.
And I always try to do it positively,
'cause I just don't feel like you should discourage somebody
from being helpful, but I think
that you take the opportunity, when it lands itself,
to teach them how to do it correctly.
Putting your hands on somebody, unsolicited,
is never a good idea.
I mean, unless I'm about to step off a cliff,
and there's no other way to stop me from doing that,
you shouldn't put your hands on me.
And yeah, okay, here's another pet peeve.
When they feel like they have to yell at you,
because they think somehow 'cause you're blind,
you can't hear (laughs).
Talk to us like normal people.
Coming across a blind person,
I think tends to trigger in people a fear.
I think if you were to ask the average person
what is the thing that you're most afraid of in life,
or what's the thing you're most afraid of losing in life.
Most of them would probably say their eyesight,
because in humans, eyes are the primary sense.
- There is also a very strange misconception
that because people find me attractive,
that I couldn't possibly be blind.
So while I'm walking around with my white cane,
or seeing eye dog, I'm asked if I'm blind.
And I say yes, and they go, "But you're so pretty,
"that can't be."
Being blind does not discriminate,
against what you look like, how old you are,
how tall you are, what religion, or race,
or what you like.
It affects you no matter what, and it doesn't care.
And my looks have nothing to do with my eyesight.
- I lived in New York 'til I was 19,
and that's when I moved out to Los Angeles.
One of the reasons that I did it was because I understood,
in some way, that if I stayed home,
my family was always gonna wanna take care of me,
and I was never really going to have the chance
to find out who I am, and really find out
if I could live life truly on my own.
So, I'm glad that I did that,
because it allowed me to do all those things
to learn how to sort of sink or swim,
and find my way in the world and find myself,
and develop into adulthood on my own terms.
- I'm blind, but I'm employed.
I'm an author, and have been working for over 10 years.
I write science fiction fantasy, as well as how-to books.
And I teach at high school and colleges internationally.
I also teach about how to work with students
with learning disabilities.
After rehabilitation, I started helping others,
and sharing my story.
I decided to give my pain purpose,
and each day got better than the day before.
I traveled to the UK, I continued my career as an author,
I kept doing my book signings, touring,
going to Comic-Cons, and continued writing,
which has always been my life passion.
It's not just about what you see,
it's about what you feel.
It's about who is around you,
and what they make you feel like.
I had to learn how to be able to do everything over again.
Walk, cook, find clothing, find happiness.
And at first, I was incredibly unhappy, depressed,
and everyday felt like it was getting worse and worse,
especially 'cause I was losing more vision by the day.
For me, having the goal of getting a seeing eye dog,
a wonderful, furry companion
that will help me cross a street and find basics in my life,
was the perfect way to start rehabilitation.
I submitted for Guide Dog for the Blind,
and was able to actually get Davis the Guide Dog,
after only being blind barely a year and a half.
- Things that I like to do.
I like traveling, I love gadgets and technology.
I am definitely a geek (laughs).
As a result, I've been able to turn that
into something positive in my life,
'cause that's what I do is I teach other blind people
how to use all of these modern devices,
iPhones, Android phones, things that are touchscreen.
I guess that's another misconception that some people have
is they think, "How could a blind person use an iPhone?"
And what they don't understand is that Apple has built in,
both Apple and Google have done this,
built in accessibility into their devices
so that a blind person can take them out of the box,
and pretty much follow some protocols and set 'em up.
A lot of people are afraid to put their hands on this stuff,
especially when they have a disability like blindness.
They're afraid, they've bought into the hype
that blind people can't do this stuff.
And when somebody comes along and says,
"Yes you can.
"I do it, let me teach you how to do it."
I've learned that there's a certain way
that you have to talk to people, make them feel comfortable.
I am a regular, everyday human being.
Blindness is not the characteristic that defines me,
or my future.
I want people to have high expectations of us,
because when they have low expectations,
then it actually gets in our way.
Just think of me as another human being,
give me a chance.
Give me a chance to prove my ability,
as opposed to just seeing only a disability
and making assumptions based on that.
Blindness is just a characteristic,
it is not what defines people like us.
- I like to focus on the positive, and see,
even though I can't see, the best of what people are.
And the most amazing community that I'm now a part of,
which is being blind and visually impaired,
and being a part of projects like this,
that wanna educate others.
- Thank you for this wonderful opportunity
to get this message out there to the world.
- Thank you so much for having me.