A Dad’s Expectations

by Mark McClain

When we found out that Macy was blind, my first thought was “Oh my God, what in the world will she ever do! What a pathetic life she will lead, and we will be saddled with her till the day we die.” This wasn’t what I envisioned in becoming a parent.

At first, my wife Crystal dealt with the education requirements, early intervention, reading about blindness, issues concerning the legal requirements, and so forth. I really didn’t start helping with the blindness issues until after I attended my first National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Convention in Dallas in 1993. I quickly learned that there is so much information available to help parents. Unfortunately, that is also part of the problem; you get overwhelmed and start to feel “where do I start now?” Luckily I had a wife who found the NFB. We soon discovered that you learn a lot by just observing blind adults and talking to them to learn information. Blind adults in the NFB have also pointed us in the right direction regarding attitudes; we now believe that Macy can do whatever she wants to do. We not only believe that philosophy, we preach it and try to live it as well. Macy’s sighted twin sister, Madison, is our measuring stick to monitor her performance to her sighted peers at this young age.