07/01/2025
Hello everybody, I recently was asked to tell my story at Alphapointe who enjoys sharing the stories of clients who come through their Blind training program. So, please don’t think that I was singled out for any reason. Because I’m nobody special. lol I encourage all of you to please visit their website and page. To learn more about the wonderful people who have come and gone through Alphapointe. You’ll find everyone has their own unique story to tell, mine is one of many. 😎
Michael Nava is no stranger to having to advocate for himself. Or others.
For most of his adult life, Michael has been a dedicated voice for various communities, spending the past decade passionately advocating for the blind and visually impaired.
A native of Kansas City, Kansas, Michael was an environmental health and safety specialist. He traveled all over the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, advocating and problem solving before, in 2015, he would lose his vision.
He had a bad reaction to some medication that caused his eyes to swell, which resulted in optic nerve trauma. Once the swelling had gone down, Michael was completely blind.
“I thought my life was over, that I would never be able to do anything,” he explains.
Fortunately, a portion of Michael’s retina was able to be reattached, leaving him with partial vision in one eye.
Now, Michael has taken his years of advocacy and used that experience to help others as a board or coalition member of several groups where he works on transportation issues, independent living, sports and recreation, and the promotion of activities in the blind community.
“Just because you’re blind doesn’t mean you can’t participate in sports and other activities,” says Michael. “There is no limit to what we can do. I visit Washington, D.C., every year to talk to my legislatures and remind them that we are real people.”
Would Michael change anything he has gone through?
“I have had to deal with biases based on my skin, but now it’s because of my blindness, but I wouldn’t change it,” he says. “I have dealt with my fears and internal demons and overcome them. When I was sighted, I took so much for granted. Now I take notice of the feeling of the sun and wind on my skin, the smell of flowers and cut grass. I was so focused on my sight, that my life was empty, and it’s not empty anymore.”
[Image description: Michael is in our adaptive technology lab in front of a computer. He is smiling at the camera.]
