Q: Please tell us a bit about yourself and your family.
I have three children, Michael, Mitch, and Karissa. Michael is almost 24 and lives in Florida working his dream job as a sound engineer for Disney World. He is also on the DEI board for all of live entertainment. He is rocking it, and Disney is putting him through his MDA program at Purdue. Mitch is my second born and he is at Kutztown University studying Broadcast Journalism. He is coming out with a few of his own shows in the spring and summer. Right now, he has 2 radio shows that are wildly different. He does sports talk and a country music show. Karissa is my third born and only daughter. She is a Freshman at Georgian Court where she plays Basketball.
All three of my kids went through Council Rock schools. Both of my sons were born blind and had amazing success in Council Rock and all of their sports programs. There is not much that my boys were not able to do and I attribute a lot of that to our community and how open they were to my boys. The boys would ask if they could be on the swim team, wrestle, play football- you name it, they did it. All 3 of my kids were able to do so much because of so much support from our community.
I grew up in Bensalem and my parents are still there now. I attribute a lot of our success to my parents honestly. My parents are just like any of us, they didn’t always know what they were doing in life, but they knew love. My parents know unstoppable, unconditional love and that love gave us the ability to thrive.
I went to Saint Ephrem for grade school, and Conwell Egan for High school back when it was just Conwell. I was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame at Conwell Egan, although I know I am entirely too young for that! I attended West Chester University and played soccer there.
When I graduated college I moved back to Bucks County. I had the whole “normal” life plan. Out of college I got the job, married the guy, moved all over the place, had the kids, and then my first 2 kids were diagnosed blind.
When my third baby was on the way I decided it was time to come home to Bucks County, PA. I felt entirely overwhelmed with 2 blind children and the idea of having a third. I knew I needed to find my way back to the people who were going to wrap their arms around us and help us figure out ways to continue to thrive. When you hit the hardest moments in your life to have people around you that say “We will figure it out” is so incredible.
Q: Please tell us about your current, past, or future career.
I knew that I wanted to be a teacher from a young age. When I lived in Kansas City, I worked at a pretty difficult school. I taught third grade, although most of my students were at a pre-k reading level. It was one of the hardest years of my life. I was able to bring many of them up to, or close, to grade level. I realized though, that a lot of families did not care about their kids doing better to make it up and out. That was so against my grain that it pushed me to take a step back for a bit.
From the school in Kansas City I went to the department of education where I worked with teams to help develop curriculum and create ways for students to be more successful in school. I loved getting to collaborate and learn from the people at the highest levels of creating education. The goal was to spend a few years there and then go back to the classroom. That plan changed after Michael was diagnosed blind.
Michael being diagnosed blind changed everything for me. I remember sitting in the doctor’s office asking him, “But will he play baseball?” I had so many dreams and goals for Michael that all came crashing down that day. I am not very proud of it, but after Michael’s diagnosis I spent the better part of 3 years crying.
When Michael was three and a half years old I was very pregnant with my second child. I knew that the chance of having another child born blind was 25% each pregnancy. One particular morning that reality hit me hard. Michael came to me that day with this little bounce in his step that this kid has always had. To Michael the glass is not just half full, it is half full of the most amazing thing and no matter what happens that day it is going to turn out amazing. He has the most incredible outlook on life. So, he came to me on this tough morning and said “Mommy, isn’t this just the best day ever?” He was so little and had such joy in him. My first thought was, “You will never have a best day. Your best day is nowhere near a regular person’s best day”. Thank goodness I didn’t say that out loud. Instead I ask Michael why he thought today was the best day. He said to me, “Mommy, I am just so happy”. This day and interaction with Michael, my three and a half year old, really stirred something up in me.
Michael has always been extraordinary. He went to a special preschool that helped him with his therapies and inclusion in the world. To get into the preschool you had to win a lottery. Shortly after Michael started there I was called into the office and accused of lying to get him into the school. They said there was no way he was blind because of how he interacted in the class. I witnessed Michael in his classroom that day living seamlessly in his classroom environment. Michael very early on in his life figured out how to get people to talk so he quickly knows their voice. He learned to shake hands with someone by offering his hand first to not have to find someone’s hand. He caught on to talk in the direction of someone else. Learned a personal thing about everyone he met to be able to connect and remember people. Michael lives his life at a split second slower pace than everyone else to figure out his surroundings. He is amazing to me. All of these little things that he had caught on to at 3 years old and still does today.
The school was shocked by Michael, but so was I. This kid was extraordinary and he had really figured it out for himself. The only place he was not excelling in was reading/literacy and that was because of me. I realized that the only block in Michael’s way was me and my fear. I was afraid to let him out into the world, I was afraid of braille, I was afraid of the white cane. When Michael came to me that dark morning to tell me it was the best day ever I realized that this kid was so ready for this big life. I acknowledged that he was so gifted and all he needed was me allowing him the tools to succeed. I want to say that this was a huge turning point for me, but it still took me some time to get past my tears and my own desires. It was a step in the right direction though.
Things really changed for us all when I started focusing on what could be instead of what should be, when I finally realized that Michael was not bothered by his life. He had a plan and my job was to give him the tools to execute his plan. One of the best advantages we had, I will say, is that I had no idea what a blind person could or couldn’t do so we decided to just do everything, and everything is what my boys did!
One of the lessons that blindness has taught me is to examine how I am looking at my challenge. It gave me perspective to see past the hard situation I am in and the way I thought things would go and see what could be instead. This also gave me a great opportunity to teach my children about change. Change is not easy for anyone, but being able to show them that when things change we can find the good. My buddy Chip in Texas says that “you have to give yourself the opportunity to ‘Grow through your go through”. That is when we grow and move onto the next levels of life.
This whole dream started with me just being determined to give Michael the tools to succeed in life. I have always said that he is the hero and I am the guide on the side. We decided to come back to Bucks County when I was pregnant with my third child. We decided that Council Rock would be the best place for my kids. Sending my kids to school came with its challenges. Together the administrators and myself would go through years of learning how to best support them as they go through school.
The principal at the time was wonderful. He brought in everyone he could to help Michael. Eventually he retired and the next man who came in had a special ed background. He had me come in to talk about every idea he had. We would talk about stuff, debate stuff, and we built a curriculum together. The boys started going to school an hour before anyone else, to learn braille and all the skills they would need. They were meeting blind role models, playing sports for the blind, everything you could think of. I was amazed at everything we had built for these boys
Q: Tell me about your time with Holland Baseball
Then my son Michael came to me and told me he wanted to play baseball. Not just baseball for the blind, he wanted to play with all of the boys that he was going to school with. He felt left out of the conversations his classmates were having and he wanted in.
We walked into registration day at Northampton Baseball and I saw my friend Lisa. Thank goodness my friend Linda was the one manning the swag table that day. She popped up and started singing Michael’s praises about his accomplishments in swim team and wrestling and tells everyone how lucky they were to have Michael on the team. This would have been such a different story if my friend Linda was not there. Just like in school the league came together and we figured out how to let Michael play. We were able to collaborate and come up with solutions to make his dream come true. I think the kids and parents weren’t the happiest to have Michael on the team at first, but his team would go on to win the championship against the first place undefeated team. He showed them that he was able to do everything that anybody else could. After the championship one of the dads told me that when we joined the team everyone thought this meant the team would be starting with a big disadvantage. The truth was though that every kid on that team started a bit spoiled and used to getting whatever they wanted. One by one that year Michael and his life changed every single kid and family on that team that year. My son Mitch also played for the same team 3.5 years later and also won the championship.
Q: What advice would you give to people?
People look at our family and the way our lives have played out and they feel so sad for us. The reality is though that I feel like we have been given so many advantages. I always tell people that if all you focus on is the DIS in disability and not the ability that is where you have the disadvantage. People who harness their unique abilities and communicate them will have all of the advantages that you could want. Instead of focusing on your disadvantage you have to focus on the advantages you have all around you.
Q: Tell me about your Non-Profit: Thriving Blind Academy
I want to find a way to replicate what I do and spread it through Bucks County. I have found that thriving comes not just from unconditional love, but from people coming around you to show you that love by saying, “Hey, I’m in”. I want to replicate this community for so many others. I started Thriving Blind Academy based on my book and my Ted talk that I did a while ago because I want people with all sorts of disabilities to know that they can also thrive. I read that 85% of blind kids who go to college and 70% of blind kids who go to high school dropout. It is simply because they don’t have the skills to thrive. They have not been taught how to advocate for themselves, how to ask for help, and so many other necessary life skills. Instead of this they are being taught how to go on disability after school, which is such a different message. So I evaluated my boys and how they beat all of the statistics and I am putting those strategies into building programs for kids.
I do virtual workshops now, and those are wonderful. I have big dreams of in person workshops in Bucks County. I want to bring in businesses and have them teach these students skills. Give the students opportunities to network and maybe get internships, summer jobs, and more. Our community did this by accident for my kids, so now I want to harness that community and find a way to get it out to more families. Once we get this up and running in Bucks County I want to tweak it and then make it available to people all over the world.
Like I mentioned, I wrote a book called Thriving Blind. The book came together because I realized that what I needed the day Michael was diagnosed was someone that had made it through to the other side. I needed to find someone who was successful in a life that I could not imagine. I went and found these people for myself. I put 13 of these people together and wrote a book about each of their stories. After the book people were calling non stop. The pandemic hit and I decided to create the Succeed Without Sight summit. It was an 8 hour summit filled with a different speaker every 15 minutes telling their stories, what they do now, and how to thrive through being blind. Now we just had our 4th one. We have had people from 6 continents participate with numbers into the thousands. Now we have a membership group of people who meet once a week to encourage each other in their thriving journeys. I also have a group of speakers that I am training to take this message into the world.
I also recently wrote a children’s book. I chose children because they had less bias than anyone else in the world. I want children to know that no matter what their parents are saying, their school is saying, their peers are saying, they need to believe in what is possible in their own life and make that happen. The book is called What I Can Be Is Up To Me
We are also making a feature film about our journey with Northampton Baseball and their winning season. It is very much the story of beating all of the odds. It is the story of us believing in our dreams and finding the people who supported those dreams with us and made it happen. It is a testament to checking the stories you are telling yourself. It is also the story of how when a community comes together they can make huge changes. It will be a truly authentic film. The cast and crew will be of all degrees of sightedness and different unique abilities. https://kristinsmedley.com/film/
Q: What are some of your favorite restaurants in the community?
I am almost always at live music at the Sycamore Grill on Friday nights. We also love New Hope. Green Parrot for an Eagles game if I’m not mad at them. I am also good friends with the people at Rocco’s so we really enjoy going there. I also workout at the NAC almost everyday. On Monday’s I will usually get salads at Piccolo Trattoria.
Q: What is one of your favorite movies? TV shows?
My two favorite movies are Steel Magnolias and Top Gun. One of my favorite TV shows is Gilmore Girls.
What is your favorite band or music genre?
The answer was classic rock for a very long time. Michael actually had a classic rock band in our town. Now my go to is either K-love on the radio or country music. We are also so blessed in this area with great live music. I love to go out and listen to live music
What are some of your favorite things about our community?
There is something so unique about this community and how service based it is. People are so willing here to help each other out and serve each other.
Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?
I don’t know exactly what it will look like, but I do know that in 10 years the work that I am starting now will change the future for the blind community. We are really close to a treatment for the type of blindness that my kids have. So, hopefully, in 5-10 years there will be more options for treatment for people dealing with blindness. I want people to be so empowered in thriving in their lives that it’s a hard decision between having treatment or not. I also see the unemployment rate of blind people matching the regular unemployment rate. We just want that gap to be bridged.
Where can people find you or your business?
