Client reference – Lindsay, Seeing with a Grateful Heart

This is an article about Lindsay Kerr, written by Kimberly Cline.

When I bumped into Lindsay Kerr at CSUN 2024, we set up a time to talk further after CSUN. I remembered leaving our earlier meeting certain of her bright future, and I was very excited to catch up.

During our meeting, I asked Lindsay the below question, and she shared a great response.

“What has been the most challenging thing you have accomplished in life?”

Lindsay stated that it was being able to show society that someone with multiple disabilities can effectively instruct a student who is legally blind. Lindsay has cerebral palsy and is legally blind, and she enjoys training students with low vision.

Along her journey, Lindsay said she has found a group of people that have empowered her by telling her she can accomplish anything, and to let her unique abilities shine! This is Lindsay’s positive community that she has surrounded herself with which makes all the difference in the world to her.

However, Lindsay has had her share of roadblocks to overcome as well. In high school, she had a certain type of test she needed to take to graduate, and the test was not made accessible for her.

Lindsay shared that now it is great to have assistive technology that she uses every day for her education as well as working with students who are legally blind. She uses the MagniLink S (MLS) with her PC. She uses the camera for distance and document viewing as well as the TTS feature.  Lindsay also uses a Braille display to assist her in reaching her educational goals as well as for working with students who are legally blind.

Lindsay using her MagniLink S at home

Lindsay is also part of an advocacy group that works to ensure students have the assistance they need and the assistive technology which will allow them to effectively complete their educational goals.

Lindsay is excited to be a TSVI, and she enjoys working with students, and is excited about the proud moments when the students that she works with graduate and move on to accomplish great things in life. Some of her students took statistics and geometry, and Lindsay had a hand in creating the Braille that they needed in their classes and making sure the Braille materials were exactly what they needed to be successful in their classes.

Along the way to all her success, Lindsay has developed a community of support, and she continually adds new individuals to her community which has also allowed her independence to grow. In fact, the advice that Lindsay has for people that have unique abilities is to build a community and to attend conferences to learn about what are the new and upcoming products with assistive technology.

Lindsay at CSUN and together with her lovely guide dog, Eve 

Throughout our conversation, I noticed how thankful Lindsay is, and she was not focusing on the hard challenges she has had to face, but she is focusing on all the great opportunities she has and all the amazing people she has met over the years. Lindsay is a true example of someone who is “Seeing with a Grateful Heart”!

Lindsay not only has a bright future, she is also intent on creating bright futures for her students!