Shana Newton, a student from Oregon, was diagnosed with ocular albinism and nystagmus when she was in elementary school.
Life before eSight
As an independent individual Shana Newton found that navigating inaccessible environments, such as her local grocery store and school campus, was both challenging and time consuming.
Shana and her family first discovered her vision problems when she reached elementary school. She was later diagnosed with ocular albinism, a rare genetic condition in which an individual lacks pigmentation in their eyes, and nystagmus. As a result of her genetic condition, Shana’s vision often tends to appear blurry and out of focus since her retinas are not fully developed. It wasn’t until she tried eSight for the first time that the thought of grocery shopping was no longer an inconvenience and walking through her school campus became an adventure instead of a never ending maze.
“There are things that I don’t appreciate or even think about because it is not in my daily realm of vision”
Shana
Discovering eSight
Shana’s first encounter with eSight was when she attended a trial event hosted by eSight. Once the features of her trial eSight device had been uniquely set to meet her vision needs, Shana was stunned when she was able to see the rooftop gardens of buildings. Before, the thought that there might be small gardens on the tops of skyscrapers had never occurred to her as she had never been able to see them.
That first moment with her eSight filled Shana with the excitement that she would no longer be missing out on the little things in life. It also allowed her to look forward to numerous goals she could achieve by using her eSight device in her everyday life.
“I was kinda excited and it made me really, really look forward to using it [her eSight] in my daily life because I knew that there’s lots of things I knew that I was missing out on without eSight”
Shana
Winning an eSight
Winning an eSight through Be My Eyes was a mind boggling experience for Shana and it opened up her world to a whole new level of opportunities and adventures. Now she uses her eSight to read signs in stores, navigate aisles, read ingredient lists on products and is relieved that she is no longer under the pressure to bring her hand magnifier, which has limited capabilities, everywhere she goes. She is also relieved that she no longer wastes her time having to figure out where she can find the items on her grocery list or locate her classes on campus.
Now Shana has an abundance of free time that was previously occupied by the struggle of completing every day tasks. With her new found free time her favourite activity is people watching. She loves going to the park to watch individuals play basketball or play fetch with their dogs. Her eSight allows her to not worry about being visually impaired and just enjoy her time and life.
Shana’s Post Pandemic Plans
Once the pandemic is over she plans on attending as many concerts, movies and plays as she can. This wasn’t an activity that she would have chosen before as she was unable to see the visual stimulation that accompanies movies, concerts and plays. However, now with her eSight she won’t miss a second of the action and can enjoy the full experience. She’s even eager to finally see a Shakespeare play!
Shana feels honoured for winning her eSight as it’s convenience allows her to live the life she wants, completely uninhibited. Additionally, she would like to thank eSight for helping to open doors for individuals like herself and break vision loss barriers.
“It was so calming and relaxing to be able to go to the park and to enjoy the visual aspect and not just the environmental aspect. I don’t have to worry about being visually impaired, I can just worry about enjoying my time and whatever I’m doing!”
Shana
Hear Shana talk about how her eSight has helped her to regain her independence…
Did you enjoy reading Shana’s story? Read more about Rhylee Hinkle, and how she’s regaining her independence with her eSight.