Vision loss does not define her

Her vision loss doesn’t define her. Marlee Walton, a 16-year-old teen from Lancaster just started visiting VisionCorps for services.

“My eye doctor said it would help me, so I came to VisionCorps this summer,” said Marlee, a rising senior at Lancaster Catholic High School. “I know the help I’ve received at VisionCorps with orientation and mobility and occupational therapy will be beneficial.”

Marlee is a STEP intern at VisionCorps which means she was offered a six-week summer job with pay and is also learning skills that will be helpful as she finishes school and looks toward her future plans.

“I like working here,” says Marlee, who has learned different jobs on the manufacturing line in the Lancaster office. “I enjoy meeting the different employees. Everyone is unique with different visual impairments, but we all fit in.

“I don’t know how people with 20/20 vision see,  this is normal to me.”

Marlee was able to quickly learn her job on the manufacturing line and she has been part of the helmet printing and packing process and working on rifle slings. She says she likes it a lot more than her earlier plan of getting a job at a store in the mall because working at a store would mean she has to use a screen and it’s harder for her to see it and operate it quickly.

Her summer internship includes working with youth with vision loss who attend summer camp at VisionCorps. She helps with activities and being a friend to summer campers.

“I love it!” says Marlee. “I like to work with kids because I like their energy. It reminds me of when I was a kid – maybe it brings out my inner child!”

At school, she usually works in the same environment as other students, although she often writes by hand and uses her phone to zoom in on text. She does ask to have the lights turned down when her eyes hurt.

After she graduates, Marlee would like to pursue cosmetology school – she enjoys using make-up and dying her hair red (she would like to dye it bright blue, but she can’t do it because of her school dress code). She’s also interested in working with children.

And, she might come back to VisionCorps!

“I’m thinking about returning here to work next summer!”