First, People: Conversations Featuring Lisa Czechowski

Though she plays many different roles in her life, Lisa says she cannot pick a favorite. She loves being a mother, a wife, a Paralympic athlete, and an Accounting Assistant at Turnstone all for countless reasons. However, when you talk to Lisa, her soul lights up when she talks about her role as an advocate for people with disabilities.

Born with a congenital visual impairment, Lisa took the long road to self-acceptance. She recalls rejecting her visual impairment as a child through her young adult years and strived to be “just like everybody else.” It was not until she fully embraced her visual disability as a piece of who she was that she felt truly confident in her abilities and herself as a person.

As a kid who grew up during the early 80s, Lisa would push herself to keep up with her two brothers (who both had full vision) and her peers. At home, Lisa felt that she was treated like any other child would be treated and her parents encouraged her to pursue activities that she was interested in trying. However, environments outside of her home presented different challenges that Lisa didn’t understand when she was young. School felt isolating because her teachers would often have her sit alone at the front of the class so she could see the board instead of sitting alongside her peers in groups.

“It hindered some of my socialization and it hindered my ability to know who I was,” Lisa said, acknowledging the frustration she felt as a child.

She also had trouble keeping up in different sports, especially those that required a ball. This frustrated Lisa further, but she was determined to be a part of the majority of kids without disabilities.

“I didn’t want to be identified as someone with a visual impairment [back then],” said Lisa. “I FOUGHT every comment about having a visual disability. I knew I had one, I knew I had to work through it but I did not want to be identified as that. I was fighting who I was.” Lisa was comfortable trying to “fit in” and credits this era of her life for teaching her the grit she would use throughout her journey.

“In learning who I was at that time, I was mentally very strong and I was physically strong… but I was not disability strong. I was disability ignorant when I look back,” reflected Lisa. Her transition to accepting her visual impairment didn’t come until high school when she tried a blind sport for the first time. However, it took a lot of time and convincing to get Lisa to try blind sports.

She tried out many sports for individuals without disabilities and found she excelled as a thrower in track and field at her local high school. Though this success boosted Lisa’s confidence, it put a wedge between Lisa and her growth as a person, blind sports, and the blind community. To 15-year-old Lisa, it felt like a step back to try blind sports at that point.

Nonetheless, Lisa was encouraged by some individuals from the Association of Blind Athletes of New Jersey to come out to a goalball practice in October 1995. Goalball is a sport for blind and visually impaired athletes. To play goalball, athletes must wear eyeshades that completely block all levels of vision. This creates a level playing field. This aspect of the sport used to scare Lisa. All her life, she was told to use her vision, but with goalball, she had to abandon her vision and use her other senses.

Though it took a whole year to get her to attend a practice, Lisa ended up loving it and seeing a new perspective she hadn’t seen before—one that defied all the stereotypes and judgments that she had. It took her a while to adjust to being blindfolded, but once she made the adjustment, she found that she no longer feared the idea of being totally blind.

“I saw the vision I was missing… literally,” said Lisa. “When I walked into that practice, I was astonished because I never expected to see what I saw. What I saw was blind and visually impaired individuals playing this crazy sport that I knew nothing about. But, those individuals looked just like you and me.”

Lisa’s first experience at a goalball practice opened her eyes to new possibilities. Though she was nervous and afraid of going out of her comfort zone, she tried this new sport and learned that she didn’t need to be like everyone else. It was the beginning of her journey to her present self-- a version of herself that fully accepts each of her strengths and weaknesses and welcomes new challenges, no matter how big they are.

“The sport changed who I am, but the people in the sport also changed who I am,” said Lisa.

Through goalball, Lisa found a strong community to help uplift and empower her. The community she built offered her many opportunities that have led to a lot of successes and it made her a more passionate advocate for herself and other individuals with disabilities. By going out of her comfort zone and trusting her community, Lisa continues to accomplish many goals.

“I want to change the world,” said Lisa, “I want the world to see individuals with disabilities as an individual. A disability doesn’t define someone, it’s just part of someone.”

Lisa encourages people to implement more education on disabilities into their daily lives such as during job training and school.

"Every disability has a spectrum," says Lisa," and educating everyone from our children to adults about those disabilities is important."

She also emphasizes the importance of having more conversations with people with disabilities, especially those with "invisible" disabilities, or disabilities that are not easily seen. Because she doesn't always use accommodations, Lisa has encountered many instances where people made assumptions about her. Society's assumptions present many obstacles in her daily life, especially when people assume she is not blind. In the past, people have said harsh things about the sunglasses she wears to help her see or they will accuse her of not having a disability at all, simply because they cannot see it.

"It's difficult because I don't want to argue with people about my disability, so I educate them," said Lisa. "I feel like education is the key to success."

To listen to more of Lisa’s story and to learn more about goalball and advocacy, watch Lisa’s “First, People: Conversations” videos.