Finding her way

Deepa Bharath

“You did it, Sharon! You just did it!”

Sharon Matson turned her head in the direction of the exclamation from

her instructor. Her face momentarily bore an expression of shock and

disbelief. Then, in an instant, she made a fist and let out a whoop of

joy.

“I guess that was it,” the 52-year-old Costa Mesa woman told her

fellow trainees at the Marriott employment program for the visually

impaired. “I made a reservation. Yes!”

It is a job easily done by people with normal eyesight. But for

someone like Matson, it’s a complex task -- one that must be learned,

understood and studied meticulously for several weeks because of the

challenge it presents to a person who cannot see or read a computer

screen.

Matson is one of 11 trainees selected by the Marriott from the Braille

Institute in Anaheim to attend the Pathways program, which trains and

prepares visually-impaired people for a career at the Marriott’s

international reservations center in Santa Ana.

The class has students with varying levels of visual impairment.

Matson says she is almost blind. She lost her right eye when she was 5

years old because she was born premature and her eyes did not develop

enough. Her left eye has been plagued by a host of problems including

cataracts, glaucoma and scar tissue.

Matson can see light and very blurry images and shadows, but says she

is blind for all practical purposes. She uses a cane to walk outside her

home. She utilizes Orange County Transportation Authority’s Access

service for the disabled, which she uses to schedule bus rides in

advance.

Matson says she is beginning to accept the fact that she will soon be

plunged into a dark world. And it’s not easy. “But that’s OK,” she said

smiling. “I’m thrilled to be doing what I’m doing.”

That pride, self-esteem and enthusiasm is exactly what the Pathways

program hopes to instill in its participants, said training supervisor

Lori Warner, who teaches Matson and other trainees to use computer

programs specially designed for the visually impaired. The Pathways

program itself teaches students “life skills as well as occupational

skills,” she said.

“We introduce them to Marriott as a company, teach them the

terminology widely used in the hospitality industry,” she explained.

Kellie Perez, who coordinates the program, said the program is

equipped to give people who are visually impaired what they value the

most -- independence. The Marriott collaborates with the Braille

Institute and the state Department of Rehabilitation to run the program,

she said.

“It’s not just an incredible opportunity for the visually impaired,”

she said. “It also opens a whole new world for our sighted employees who

get exposed to a whole different issue.”

Marriott now employs several blind people full time. The company has

hired from the Braille Institute since 1999. Also included in the

curriculum is learning how to project a professional image, write and

build a resume, take job-related responsibilities and manage personal

finances.

But that is not the most challenging part of the program. A blind

person who makes a reservation uses a program called JAWS -- Job Access

With Speech -- that essentially reads out what is on the computer screen.

So, the person who is making the reservation wears headphones and hears

the computer talking in one ear and the caller in the other ear.

“It’s like this sensory overload,” Warner said. “It’s exactly like

listening to two people talk simultaneously and responding to both of

them.”

Matson says she has been yearning to meet these challenges for a long

time and was thrilled when the Braille Institute selected her for the

program. Matson and her husband Dan, who is also legally blind, were no

strangers to the Braille Institute in Anaheim. Both had attended the

Institute’s programs and classes for visually-impaired youth several

years ago.

But Matson went back to the Institute earlier this year with a renewed

energy. She enrolled in a computer class, her first ever. She started to

use Zoom Text, a program that literally enlarges the type. Soon, the

large type was not large enough for Matson. So, she had to switch to

JAWS.

The hardest thing in the program, she says, is the fact she cannot see

the cursor.

“You tend to get lost,” she said with a laugh. “But I’m learning to

depend on the guy in the computer that does all the talking.”

There are days, Matson says, she has walked out in tears. Frustration

is part of the exercise. The ultimate goal, however, was to overcome

these obstacles and “make myself a better person,” she said.

“I wanted to improve my abilities, sometimes to just get out of the

house,” Matson said. “And I’ve learned through my experience at Marriott

that people appreciate what people can do in spite of their blindness.

It’s great to be looked at as a person rather than as a handicapped

person.”

The world outside has not always been that easy. She has had to put up

with widespread misconceptions.

“Many people think that if you’re blind, you’re retarded,” Matson

said. “That’s not true. Our brains work -- they work very well. All we

need is a chance, an opportunity.”

And she has constantly proved that to herself and those around her.

Despite her limitations, Matson is active in her neighborhood church. She

is a member of their council and teaches Sunday school. She took several

courses in Orange Coast College and even got her bachelors degree in

liberal studies from Cal State Long Beach, graduating in 1989.

The living room of her Costa Mesa condominium is crammed with her

collectibles and items she crafted. A framed wooden quilt pattern hangs

on the wall. She won second place for that piece of work at the Orange

County Fair two years ago. Matson is also resourceful when it comes to

crafts.

“See that angel on the shelf?” she said, pointing to the doll. “Her

head is made with Styrofoam and her body is a one-liter soda bottle.”

Matson lives with Dan, her husband of 12 years, and mother Betty

Roach.

“She’s achieved remarkable things,” said Roach. “She raised her son

all by herself.”

Her son, said Matson, is 30 years old now and is in the construction

industry. Roach finds it hard to accept her daughter is going blind.

“I see that she deals with it, and she’s a lot braver than I am,” she

said. “But it’s hard because she enjoys life so much.”

She says the Marriott’s program has worked wonders.

“She’s getting compliments from people,” Roach said. “She knows she

can do things.”

At home, Matson and her husband, have started using Braille

extensively in day-to-day activities. They use their Braille typewriter

to label compact discs, audio and video cassettes.

“We even have the Bible in Braille,” said Dan Matson.

He also marked up their microwaves and ovens with silicon bubbles they

bought from the Braille Institute’s store.

“Sharon loves to cook and oh yeah, she can cook,” he said. “She makes

great tacos and enchiladas.”

People like Matson are an inspiration to younger people who have lost

eyesight or are in the process of losing eyesight, said John Zamora,

coordinator of youth and career services at the Braille Institute. He

said Matson had the basic capabilities, and teachers at the Institute

merely prepped her and acted as a catalyst in her success.

“As someone who had been pushed around emotionally, it took Sharon a

lot of courage just to show up,” Zamora said. “These success stories send

out a message to others like her.”

Recently a group of blind children, who took a tour of the Marriott

reservations office, was inspired, he said.

“It means a lot to a blind child to know that they have a future ahead

of them,” Zamora said. “That they have the possibility of being gainfully

employed.”

It is that freedom that Matson says she is struggling to achieve.

“I’m still striving for independence,” she said. “It’s important for

me although it’s hard to get. That’s why I need to stay positive.

Because, if I lose that independence, in my mind, I’ve lost everything.”