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In this SSB Success Story Leah Martinson talks about how she navigated the transition from high school to college and to the workplace. How the services at SSB assisted her decision making and helped support her goal of owning her own business as an Integrative Health Coach.
Leah graduated high school and became a Massage Therapist and realized that she wanted more, and she pursued her college career at the University of Minnesota and became a Certified Health Coach and now provides services to students within the very same program. Leah also works with an organization and balances her time between work and home.
Becoming a mom has changed her life and
Leah is always looking for that creative solution as her business she says is always going to be a work in progress.
Leah talks about how she coped with being a bit different from her peers in high school and how she now understands today what she did not understand back then.
Leah writes a blog called Blurry Mom which focuses on mom’s and children. A place to go for answers and a bit of some good writing.
Join Leah Martinson as she talks about her transition years and how she is making it happen today.
Here are a couple of apps Leah suggested:
Seeing IA and BeMyEyes.
Both apps help one gain access to what they can not see. Check them out on the App Store.
Complete Transcription provided below.
Thank you for listening!
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Transcription
Leah Martinson – Integrative Health Coach: Sometimes, This Get’s Scary… That’s OK. (with Transcription)
[Music]
Leah:
Part of it is a blog and it’s Blurry Mom .com and so it’s a health coaching practice that reaches out to Moms, and I put the Blurry thing in there because it’s kind of funny, because I’m blind, it’s a part of my story and it’s an important part of my story.
[Music]
Being a Mom has it flipped my world upside down.
Jeff:
Blind Abilities presents the Success Stories.
Introducing Leah Martinson.
Leah:
I think all successful people get help along the way and so there’s nothing to be ashamed of if you need to ask for help.
Jeff:
A Mom, a business owner, an integrative health coach.
Leah:
So that made a difference I guess, just feeling like okay there are other people like me out there and I’m gonna be alright.
Learn how to just be okay with being a little scared sometimes.
Jeff:
Welcome to Blind Abilities, I’m Jeff Thompson.
[Music]
We’re talking to Leah Martinson, she’s an integrative health coach, has successfully navigated the transition from high school to college to the workplace, with the guidance of State Services for the Blind in Minnesota, she has started her own business, is now a new homeowner, and also she’s enjoying motherhood, how are you doing Leah?
Leah:
Pretty good Jeff how are you?
Jeff:
I’m doing good thank you.
Leah I want to thank you very much for taking the time to come on the Blind Abilities sharing your journey, your stories, about how you successfully navigated State Services for the Blind, and transition from high school to college to the workplace, and becoming your own boss.
Leah:
Well sometimes, I also have a two-year-old and she is the boss part of the time.
Jeff:
Ah yeah I know what that’s like, Leah can you tell us how State Services for the Blind played a part in your college and getting a job?
Leah:
Do you want me to start with college or when I first started with SSB, because they’ve been a part of my life since I was five.
Jeff:
Oh yeah go ahead.
Leah:
All of it, I’ll do the whole thing.
Jeff:
Well, not day one, day two.
[Laughter]
Leah:
So I initially started working with State Services for the Blind in elementary school when I was initially diagnosed with my eye disease and so I think at that time they were mostly supportive of my parents, and helping my parents navigate the public school system, and making sure that I was getting the accommodations that I needed.
And as I a transition into high school it became more, I would work one-on-one with my counselor, and in high school it was about planning for college and figuring out what I would want to do and where I would want to go.
I think my counselor at SSB in high school was the first one that I really remember well, she left a good impression, she was a really good advocate and taught me how to be an advocate for myself.
And so I think that’s really where it started where my relationship with SSB became really important.
But as it is with that field there’s transitions and counselor changes and so I’ve worked with a number of people throughout my entire time as a client of SSB and they’ve all, they’ve all been great they’ve all played a role in helping me get to where I’m at now and so through college it was a lot of support in getting me the appropriate technology, helping me make sure I had access to all of my textbooks and anything else that needed to be converted to either large print at that time or audio, and then also just helping me navigate Disability Services at the various schools that I went to.
But I did most of my college at the University of Minnesota and their Disability Services Center was pretty amazing.
Jeff:
And what kind of services and accommodations did you receive at the University of Minnesota Disability Services office?
Leah:
So they provided me with all of my textbooks.
I could choose to have them like read by a live person and recorded on to at that time tape, so I’m dating myself a little bit, yet not even CDs, I’m talking like straight-up tapes, so that was an option, or I could do the, somebody at their Center would scan everything through Kurzweil and then give me the files on the computer, and then they also provided me with what they call an access assistant, so it was somebody that would be in class with me taking notes of anything that’s up on the board or too far away for me to see and any of the classes that had like labs, like my biology and chemistry class they had an access assistant in there with me just working on anything that was visual and just making accommodations as we go because some of those things you just kind of can’t plan ahead for.
You figure it out when you’re in the moment and then work through it.
Jeff:
So what were you packing, what kind of devices were you carrying from home to school from class to class, what were you using to get the job done?
Leah:
So in undergrad mostly, in undergrad I could still see well enough to do a fair amount of large print, so I used mostly just dark lined notebooks and big black markers for taking notes.
I wasn’t quite at laptop time yet and then I had little various different recording devices so I could record the lectures.
Into grad school and things that I did after like age 26-27 because that’s when I lost a fair amount of vision, and wasn’t really able to read print anymore, I basically just used a laptop for everything and headphones because I was using Jaws.
I had attempted to learn how to use a Braille display, it was a Focus 40 Blue and I’m just not a really strong Braille reader so that never took off for me.
I just prefer audio.
Jeff:
Oh yeah that’s not uncommon for those who lose the majority of their eyesight later on in life.
Now Leah, so did State Services for the Blind have a role in helping you determine what devices would be best suited for your needs?
Leah:
Yeah they have every everything that I have at this point that is accessibility for my blindness, they have purchased with the exception of my iPhone, I bought that on my own but, they have purchased me a few different computers over time, and Kurzweil and Jaws, and Zoomtext, not KNFB reader, I purchased that on my own.
Another scan to read called Iread and a scanner and then the focus 40, and I mean I’ve used so many different, technology is changing so much and there’s always new things to try or things that are outdated so you have to upgrade to something new.
Jeff:
You mentioned the iPhone, Leah how has the iPhone impacted on the way you access data and information?
Leah:
The iPhone changed my life, but I didn’t realize it at first and that sounds a little bit dramatic but, it really has made a huge difference, just in being able to access anything in text, like text messages and emails, and social media sites, and just to have a software that’s built in to the device to read to you, you know I don’t run into as many compatibility issues as I do with Jaws on a PC, and then also just all of the apps that are becoming available that provide accessibility.
I use one called Seeing AI a lot, and that has a few different like scan to read options on it, and like a product recognition, and things like that and I use that probably daily and sometimes multiple times a day, and then another app that I use a lot is called Be My Eyes, which connects you to sighted people and through a camera they can help you read something.
So things that I used to have to depend on friends or family members for I can do by myself now with having these different apps on the iPhone and it’s kind of nice.
Jeff:
Independence is a good thing.
Leah:
It’s a wonderful thing.
[Music]
Jeff:
So you took your education, your confidence, your skills and started your own business.
Leah:
Kind of, so I, out of high school my, the first thing that I did was just went to a community college.
I just took some generals, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and from there I decided I wanted to get certified in massage therapy because I’ve just always been interested in healing and kind of like integrative practices, non-traditional medical practices.
Before I even finished massage school I knew that there was more, there was just something more that I wanted to do and I went to the U of M and did an undergrad in psychology.
Because that’s a pretty general undergrad and if you have the desire to do continuing education that’s just a good baseline.
It’s somewhere to start, so from there I decided to go into the integrative health coaching program also at the University of Minnesota.
When I graduated from there I started out working for an organization that serves adults with mental illness and they hired me as a health coach and it was before I even graduated so that was pretty cool, and I still work there but within my time there I also started my own business and that’s something else that SSB actually helped me with.
I wrote a business plan and submitted it to SSB and they supported me with some of the startup costs like getting my web site up and running, and paying for a lawyer to help me establish a LLC appropriately and get all the tax stuff in order and that kind of thing.
So they kind of helped me through that process just guiding me through it and then also supporting me financially.
I got that up and running and a part of it is a blog and it’s BlurryMom.com and so it’s a health coaching practice that reaches out to Moms, and I put the Blurry thing in there because it’s kind of funny because I’m blind, it’s a part of my story, and it’s an important part of my story, so I am both working for this organization and doing some small amount of private practice working with Moms and then also students who are actually in the health coaching program at the University right now.
I coach them while they’re in school.
Jeff:
That’s awesome, Leah with all your experience, what advice would you have for someone who is just starting to think about and consider college and the workplace?
Leah:
Oh that is a good question, a lot, there’s so many things to consider and I think it can get really overwhelming so I’d say the most valuable thing is to just know who your support network is, and like build your village, and don’t be afraid to ask for help and support because it does get hard, you just don’t have to do it alone, there’s there’s a lot of things out there organizations and people that are there to help and want to help, and I think all successful people get help along the way, and so there’s nothing to be ashamed of if you need to ask for help.
Jeff:
Leah becoming a Mom has changed few things I suppose?
Leah:
Yeah a lot.
[Laughter]
Being a Mom has, it flipped my world upside down.
Jeff:
Did you have any doubts, what was it like when you realized you’re gonna be a Mom?
Leah:
So when I found out I was gonna be a Mom I, I was terrified, actually it wasn’t something that I really planned and that’s, that’s okay, that’s just part of life.
But I think I was scared for all the reasons that all Moms are scared and then I also had fear just about being a blind Mom, fear about being able to keep her safe, and keep track of a little person that is into everything.
I had all kinds of doubts and I still do like everyday.
I’m finding that all Moms do, it’s just like part of being a mother, you doubt yourself constantly, but we all do a pretty darn good job.
Jeff:
Yeah I’m a parent myself and there’s something that I remember is, when the kids are home and it’s totally quiet, what’s that like?
Leah:
Quiet is bad news, like it’s super glorious because things are always so loud, but at the same time it’s like you know something’s wrong, you know they’re in doing something they are not supposed to be doing when it’s quiet.
You know I’ve had a lot of people suggest to put bells on her or something so you can always hear where they are but I swear to God this little child knows that I can’t see her and if she’s still, she knows I’m not gonna find her and then when I do she just thinks it’s the funniest thing in the world.
I have just been really diligent about keeping our environment really safe for both of us.
Jeff:
She’s having fun with it.
Leah:
Oh my God she thinks it’s great, she’s just always messing with Mommy and she’s not even two yet, so I oh my God I’m in for it.
Jeff:
I’m sure you’ll do fine.
Leah what kind of devices are you using on a day-to-day basis for your work?
Leah:
So right now with my business I primarily work from home, and for marketing I’ve used mostly Facebook and like a business Facebook page as well as the contract that I have with the University of Minnesota, and I got that just from being an alumni and staying in contact with the director of the program, and just keeping up to date on those relationships and networking opportunities.
So I go to alumni meetings for health coaching and we all kind of support each other in network and I’m slowly getting involved in other networking groups.
One that’s specific for women who are small business owners and then the ones that are just for business owners around the Twin Cities area, but I’m always looking for new opportunities to just meet people and put myself out there.
I’ve been kind of at a standstill for six or seven months because it’s really hard balancing working a regular job, building a business, and being a Mom, so I’m back to the drawing boards where I can make some changes to make more space for building my business, and building my practice and I’ve recently met with a few different practitioners that have like wellness centers or spaces within chiropractic offices, and I think if I get connected into a new space, it’s just gonna give me access to more people, and you know a client base of another business that already exists to market myself too, so it’s all in the works.
I think just building a business at all times is a work in progress.
Jeff:
Can you define Integrative Work Coach?
Leah:
Well I am sure try, I probably should be able to huh?
[Laughter]
Jeff:
I think I came to the right place.
[Music]
Leah:
So health coaching is a one-on-one, well that’s not true there is group coaching, at this time I don’t do group coaching, but it’s a, it’s a service that’s provided by somebody who is gone to training to be a health coach and it has a similar feel I guess, to counseling you know, that the way I practice is one-on-one and we’re sitting down and talking.
The focus is really around well-being and optimizing well-being and that’s not limited to like physical health or nutrition or exercise it’s, it’s the whole person because all the things that we experience in life have an impact on our well-being so it can be topics of relationships, and emotional and mental health, and the physical health, like nutrition and physical activity, stress management is a really big one that I work on with people because if you’re chronically stressed out trying to change anything just isn’t really gonna happen, so acquiring new tools to create balance and manage your stress is a starting point for a lot of people.
I would say the biggest difference between health coaching and counseling is that health coaching is very much present based and moving forward.
We don’t dive back into history or address trauma or anything like that, not that that shouldn’t happen, there’s a time and a place an appropriate professional for those kinds of things, that’s just not a part of what health coaching is, we look at what’s going on right now, where you want to be, and how to get there.
Jeff:
So let’s dive back.
[Laughter]
Leah:
Here we go!
Jeff:
Okay let’s go back to the time when you first realized because of your visual impairment that you are different than your peers.
Leah:
I.
Jeff:
I am a professional don’t worry.
[Laughter]
Leah:
I think I realized fairly early on that I was different, meaning like elementary school, because I would get pulled out of my mainstream classes to go learn Braille, it wasn’t till middle school till they started doing like the orientation of mobility really a blindfold me and make the walk around school with cane, which I think was really awful.
It was necessary to learn that, take a 13 year old out of the building, because it’s really hard being that age.
In elementary realizing that I was different was just, just something I knew, I didn’t have a huge emotional experience with it cuz kids are still pretty okay at that age as far as being accepting and open and curious.
It’s not to middle school and people start treating you differently if you’re different, and that’s just because they’re trying to figure out who they are and anything that a person doesn’t understand feels scary and, and 13 and 14 year-olds don’t have the emotional and mental capacity to process that and like be nice, but I didn’t know that then, so it was hard, it was really hard.
Now there’s a lot of things that I can look back on and see why they happened that way but I didn’t understand it at that time, and so I struggled a lot socially, and just trying to feel like I fit in, I never felt like I fit in.
So I did see a counselor, I think starting in middle school and that was helpful to just kind of process through some of that and get some sense of, okay even if I’m having a hard time socially, I’m okay in the world you know, like it’s just it’s a part of my experience, and I would say it kind of stayed that way through high school.
I definitely had friends and I had social groups but at the same time I just felt different and never like 100% a part of the group.
Going into college, that definitely changed.
I feel like as people get older they’re not as weird about things that are different especially in Minnesota or in Minneapolis I guess you or the University of Minnesota everybody’s freaking weird, so it’s cool to be different, then I also just started meeting other blind people because there was more blind people at the University of Minnesota, there weren’t any in my elementary school or high school.
So that made a difference I guess just feeling like, okay there are other people like me out there and I’m gonna be alright.
Jeff:
Yeah, yeah it’s, it’s neat we, you finally realized you’re not alone.
Leah:
Yeah.
Jeff:
Yeah that kind of brings me back to a training center I attended. Did you ever attend a training center?
Leah:
Yeah I went to VLR for like six months I think, right after I had a significant amount of vision loss and my guide dog was retiring, and I’m like, what is this cane thing?
So I went back there primarily to work on orientation and mobility, but I also took out like daily living skills and I cooked and cleaned all the time pretty independently at that point but I still learned some really good tips on just how to make things a little bit easier, a little bit more blind friendly, especially in the kitchen, and I use those things today like Braille labels on my spices, and magnet labels for canned good,s and that kind of thing just made a world of difference.
But yeah the primary focus was orientation mobility and I chose to do it under the blindfold just because of my eye disease being progressive and it was scary and kind of cool because I’m like, oh cool I can do this, it’s scary but I can do it, I’m not dead so….
Jeff:
You survived that, well good for you.
I graduated from Vision Loss Resources but I remeber the first time I walked into the place, it was like, oh wow this is where they keep the blind.
[Laughter]
Leah:
Pretty much yeah, yeah, I when I was there it was a lot of people that were quite a bit younger than me and I was only there one day a week so I didn’t end up being a really big social thing or a place where I got really connected with other blind people but it was still just nice one day a week to be around other blind people.
[Music]
Jeff:
We’ve been talking to Leah Martinson, Integrative Health Coach, business owner, and a Mom.
She’s successfully gone through the transitioning process from high school to college to the workplace.
Leah, is there one last message that you would like to leave our listeners?
Leah:
I think something that I’ve just, I’ve come to realize over and over again throughout my entire life is, sometimes this gets scary, that’s okay, and I’ve just been practicing learning how to be comfortable with doing it scared.
So I would say learn how to just be okay with being a little scared sometimes.
Jeff:
Well put.
Leah Martinson, I want to thank you very much for taking the time out of your day and coming on to Blind Abilities and sharing your story with her listeners.
Leah:
Thanks for having me.
Jeff:
It’s been fun and it’s been a pleasure.
It was a great pleasure to talk to Leah Martinson and to hear about how she achieved her goals and through State Services for the Blind, they both work together and achieved the goals she set out for herself, and if you’re a transition student, ready to transition from high school to college through the workplace, check out your State Services and see what services they have to offer you.
And as always a big thank you goes out to Chi Chow for his beautiful music.
Thanks Chi Chow, that’s LChiChow on Twitter.
This has been a Blind Abilities production, we hope you enjoyed and until next time bye bye.
[Music]
[Multiple voices]
When we share what we see through each other’s eyes, We can then begin to bridge the Gap between the limited expectations and the realities of Blind Abilities.
Jeff:
For more podcast with the blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on twitter at BlindAbilities, download our app from the app store, Blind Abilities, that’s two words, or send us an email at info@blindabilities.com, thanks for listening.