Sandra-Lynn Elledge is a 66-year-old Titusville, Florida resident who was diagnosed with Optic Atrophy and is legally blind.
Discovering eSight
Sandy-Lynn always had vision-related issues, but it wasn’t until later in her teenage years that she was diagnosed with ocular atrophy. Although she never let her condition stop her from living her life, daily activities were not always easy.
One morning while sweeping her back patio, Sandy-Lynn could hear a bird nearby. Instinctively, she looked up to see it, but to her dismay, she could not. Given her frustration, Sandy-Lynn’s husband scoured the internet for the perfect vision enhancing tool. That is how they discovered eSight. From the moment she tried on eSight, Sandy-Lynn knew it was the beginning of something great.
“As the eSight experience representative helped me through the process, and we did different things, each step just got more wonderful and at the end, I didn’t want to give it back.”
Sandra-Lynn Elledge
Life After eSight
After getting her eSight, Sandra felt even more confident in herself and her abilities. She’s since picked up many new hobbies, from rug hooking to painting and even learning to play the ukulele.
Special Olympics
One of the most amazing things Sandra accomplished, thanks to her eSight, was competing in Special Olympics Florida in the Equestrian Area Games where she won two gold medals.
Growing up on a farm, Sandy-Lynn has always loved horses. Even though she could ride her horse just fine, competing never seemed like an option. With her eSight, newfound confidence and unconditional support from her friends and family, Sandy-Lynn decided to enter the Special Olympics. For Sandy-Lynn, winning was not a priority. She just wanted to experience something new and push herself outside of her comfort zone. She ended up winning two gold medals. Being able to see her friends and family on the stand cheering her on made the experience all the more special.
And to be able to be in the winner’s circle and have hundreds and hundreds of people applauding you, but seeing them and not just hearing them….that just made the experience far greater than what anybody could imagine
Sandra-Lynn Elledge
Moving Forward
As a go-getter, Sandy-Lynn has never let other people’s opinions get in the way of her living her life. Sometimes sighted people can have a limited understanding of the capabilities of those with visual impairments. People assume that she can’t do certain things without ever giving her the chance to try. But for Sandy-Lynn, being capable lies not in how she does something but the fact that she does it. And now, thanks to eSight, she has the opportunity to do so much more.
I’m not handicapped, I’m handicapable. We shouldn’t all have to do everything exactly the same way. It shouldn’t matter how you do it as long as you do it, that’s quality of life. And that’s what eSight has given me, quality of life
Sandra-Lynn Elledge