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In this 2nd episode of the Two Journeys to Employment, Gabby Gingras shares her inspiring journey from student to professional, emphasizing the importance of self-advocacy, resilience, and using available resources. As a visually impaired environmental Studies graduate, Gabby describes her role at Rainbow Tree Care, advocating for herself at work, and overcoming challenges in education and employment. She reflects on her experiences as a Peer Educator, where she helped younger students prepare for college and careers by teaching advocacy and assistive technology skills. Gabby’s advice to high schoolers: don’t be afraid to ask for help, try new things, and never give up on your dreams.
To find out more about the services provided at State Services for the Blind, and what they can do for you, contact Shane DeSantis at shane.desantis@state.mn.us or call Shane at 651-385-5205.
Full Transcript:
{Music}
Gabby Gingras: Advocacy is a learn skill, but I feel as though it’s a skill you learn out of necessity.
Jeff Thompson: Environmental Studies major.
Gabby Gingras: It all comes back to being able to speak up for yourself and ask for help when you need it, which is a really good skill to have and something that I’m always trying to work on.
Jeff Thompson: Tree expert and customer service representative.
Gabby Gingras: I had so many resources and connections and learning about advocacy and how to function, not only as like a student, but like an adult entering the workforce.
Jeff Thompson: And now, here’s Gabby Gingras. Hope you enjoy.
Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson. Today in the studio, we have Gabby Gingras and she is a former peer educator at State Services for the Blind of Minnesota. Gabby, welcome to Blind Abilities.
Gabby Gingras: Good morning Jeff. Thank you for having me. Great to be here.
Jeff Thompson: Thanks for taking the time and coming on and talking about your employment adventure, your journey. Let’s clarify, what is a peer educator?
Gabby Gingras: Yeah, that’s a great question. So when I was working with SSB, it was like a brand new program when me and my other peer educators started it. And we really wanted to start the program of like helping younger blind and visually impaired students and like learn from their older blind and visually impaired students that have been through the very same things they have. We wanted it to be more like connecting rather than like something you had to do that was less enjoyable, so to speak. So we came up with a term peer educator program and you call it PEP for short, just because that’s very fun.
You know, you can do your PEP classes.
So what we focused on during those classes and those programs we put together, this was back in 2020, just to give you a little time frame of when this kicked off. We were primarily working with high school students, but we worked with some middle school students as well and just got really, really great group and we helped prepare them for higher education, whether that was college, whether that was the workforce, really teaching them about accommodations and advocacy.
We would even do scenarios and come up with, oh, someone that you’re interacting with in a potential college setting is asking you about your vision or your accommodations or disabilities, like how would you respond, how would you deal with that, teaching them about different assistive technologies that are out there that has helped us or kind of the things that we have been through. And it was amazing, like the group that we had and kind of that whole program that we kind of worked to start up. So it was awesome. Being a peer educator was so cool.
Jeff Thompson: What a great way to let you know that you’re not all alone on this journey.
Gabby Gingras: It really was. At the end of that summer, we had some students that cried because, you know, it was like the last class and they just felt so connected and got so much out of it. And I went in with like not knowing what to expect and I came out of it going, what a cool opportunity and what amazing people are out there that you are never alone and there are always going to be people out there willing to help you and to teach you and to help you learn. And there’s always going to be people that could benefit from you helping them and from you teaching them from what you’ve experienced.
Jeff Thompson: Yeah, because in my day, you just went to the college and maybe they had a disability services office and you kind of forged your own path. But when you’re able to have peer educators and a group of people like that to talk about their experiences, it gives you a, at least there’s breadcrumbs that you can kind of like follow along the way. It’s still your journey, but it’s nice to know that other people have taken this too.
Gabby Gingras: Yeah, absolutely. It was really awesome and there’s a lot of fun people and SSB was really helpful and has a lot of connections out there and it’s pretty cool.
Jeff Thompson: Absolutely. So Gabby, why don’t you tell the listeners a little bit about yourself and what you’re doing today?
Gabby Gingras: Yeah, absolutely. I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in environmental studies. I’m passionate about the environment and conservation and helping wildlife in any way that I can for as long as I can remember. I’ve worked really hard to build up a career working in environmental services and I just started working this year for Rainbow Tree Care. I work customer service, but it’s a lot more complicated when you work in tree care than just customer service like scheduling.
You have to know about treatments and different tree species and answer environmental questions and know about the arborists, maps and invasive species that are out there. And it’s really cool. I love the company we work for. We’re actually like the leading tree care company in the nation. And we even helped partner with the University of Minnesota to develop the treatment for Dutch Elm disease, which was super cool.
Jeff Thompson: Oh, wow. Yeah, that’s important because I remember the Dutch Elm disease from years ago wiped out a lot of trees in St. Paul, Minneapolis area. And now there’s a big thing about ash.
Gabby Gingras: All those historic elms were down the river in the cities. Yeah, no, we’re pretty much the only reason we have any elm trees left today and all of Minnesota. And you are right, like the emerald ash borer right now is like our main concern. It’s at like peak infestation and if you don’t treat your ash trees now, like we’re not going to have any in like the next five, ten years.
Jeff Thompson: Yeah, we never knew about this stuff back in the day when I was a kid, you know, people cut down trees. Oh, you can’t cut down trees and transport them like ash.
Gabby Gingras: Yeah, you have to clean your equipment and tools after every time you interact with ash trees and stuff. And you’re right, like the tree care industry is very new and still developing. We’re still learning a lot and changing our treatments from what we learn like year to year almost.
Jeff Thompson: As people may be wondering, when you applied for the job and you got the job, how did you advocate for yourself?
Gabby Gingras: Right from when I get a job offer, like post interview, I’m very upfront and saying I am visually impaired. And so one of the nice things about what I do is I can primarily work remotely and that already opens up a lot of accessibility. Like cleared a lot of hurdles already, but I’m very upfront with my employers, with my colleagues. We do have in person meetings that I do go into. So I’m just very honest with that. I’m saying, hey, transportation might be an issue, but I’ll figure it out. Or if we do ever had anything like for meetings and things, I just asked them to email it to me, so I can zoom in and see it better and access it myself.
And they’ve been super awesome. Or like if you have a Zoom meeting and they have a document pulled up, I’ll just either upfront and say, hey, can you zoom in? Or I’ll zoom in on my end if I’m able to. But it all comes back to being able to speak up for yourself and ask for help when you need it, which is a really good skill to have. And something that I’m always trying to work on.
Jeff Thompson: How did you start working on advocacy? Did you always have that about yourself or did it come by getting to know other people who were visually impaired?
Gabby Gingras: That is a great question because advocacy is a learned skill, but I feel as though it’s a skill you learn out of necessity. Because I went to public school throughout my education and going into college and you got to be willing to fight for yourself, essentially. Like if you can’t see something and you’re taking a heavy load of honors courses, you’re going to fall behind and quit. You said earlier about like carving your own path and that’s what it comes down to. I’ve got a lot of anecdotes about teachers not being very educated or like even willing to kind of let you have your accommodations. And you would just be like, no, hey, this is something I care about.
This is something I’m passionate about and I should have access to. And sometimes it can be hard because you don’t want to be different and you want to be like your peers. But at the end of the day, if you want to do as well as you can in like an education setting or in a work setting, it’s not even about getting yourself a leg up. It’s just about doing what’s best and what works best for you, if that makes sense. I don’t know. I hope I didn’t get off track there.
Jeff Thompson: Oh, no, no. I suppose it’s like having your own voice at your IEP meetings.
Gabby Gingras: Oh, yeah. Because you go to IEP meetings when they’re little, I’ve been busy since I was a toddler and you kind of know what it entails. But then once you get into high school, middle school, like you can be part of the conversation. My mom always talks about how back in elementary school, like when you were learning about money and like, okay, this is a dollar, this is a five dollar bill, this is a quarter. I would just like put anything down because like I genuinely couldn’t see anything.
I didn’t know. And so she’s like, well, you know, you can’t do that. You got to actually learn and we got to find ways to figure out how you can actually do this. I’m like, okay.
And then once I got older, I could have that ability and I had that voice. I don’t know. I just think of when I was in high school geometry and I had a code that they would give me every day so I could access whatever our teacher was putting on the smart board on my iPad so I could see it closer and take notes on what they saw on the board. And like one time she forgot to give it to me and she was a bit of like, she’s an awesome teacher, but she like forgot to give it to me and she was like, our class was like really rowdy and she’s like trying to quiet the class down. She like looked at me and like she’s sushed me. I just like didn’t say anything because she was kind of annoyed and like really getting in the flow of doing class and then said, well, Gabby, why didn’t you say anything?
I forgot to give you the code. I’m like, I did and you sushed me in the class went really quiet because like that was the first time I ever seen her like almost fall over laughing. She’s like, you know what, you’re totally right. Here you go. It’s just a really funny story about advocacy and like how like, yeah, you got to stand up for yourself. You got to speak up when no one else is speaking up.
Jeff Thompson: And that’s a great skill to carry on into your college journey as well.
Gabby Gingras: Oh yeah, even more, more so because you are your whole like there’s no team behind you, like you and like whatever, just building services office you have. When I went to college and things were changing so rapidly because I was in college during the heart of the pandemic and that brought up incredibly new challenges. And that was really the first time I’d ever been on my own before.
So it was like a whole different ballgame and you learn really quick of what works and what doesn’t and how you can handle different things that are tougher. And you also make a lot of cool friends and meet a lot of amazing people.
College is awesome. I still even if the pandemic really put a damper on things, I had a amazing time that I’m very grateful for.
Jeff Thompson: You mentioned the iPad as a tool that you’re using. What other assistive technology pieces of equipment do you utilize?
Gabby Gingras: I do whatever I can online and zoom in as much as I can to reduce like eyestrain. And audio books can be great. Assistive tools like I read a lot so it can be really great if I’m tired from my vision and other assistive technologies that I’m using more like. I don’t really know if it counts as assistive technology, but like transportation can be a big one.
So I’m getting more familiar with like Ride -Share services like Lyft transportation can be almost really scary for vision like folks, so beware. but I’m doing the difficult things in learning and growing as much as I can. Which is cool.
Jeff Thompson: Do you use any type of magnification like when you’re out in the middle of the night? and about when you’re not in front of your computer or iPad?
Gabby Gingras: I essentially use my cell phone as my assistive technology tool. Like I just pull up my camera and like, I can’t read a sign. I just pull up my camera setting and like use it to zoom in. And well, it’s not perfect. And because I have a cane, I just, I Shied away.
One thing I told my Peer Education students that I taught was, you would say not as I do, because growing up, I was so afraid to be perceived as blind or vision impaired, so I specifically steered away from having a guide dog, using a chain and like I didn’t develop those skills quickly enough.
Or like I just didn’t incorporate them into my daily life. And I don’t recommend my students doing that. Like it’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to be different.
And like everyone has something that works for them. Like everyone’s different and things are going to work different for different people. But yeah, I pretty much just use my phone for things I can’t see. There’s a lot of great apps and things out there.
Jeff Thompson: How did SSB, state services for the blind of Minnesota, how did they play a part in your journey and even up to where you’re looking for a job?
Gabby Gingras: I worked with SSB, like all throughout high school. And they really worked with me finding like different assistive technologies that helped I did orientation and mobility training and like different student groups with them back when I was a student.
And then once I was a junior, senior and high school, they really worked with me and encouraged me to apply for scholarships through NFB, like National Federation of the Blind.
And I did end up winning some pretty significant scholarships and even had the opportunity to attend the National Convention of the Blind and just had so many resources and connections and learning about advocacy and how to function not only as like a student, but like an adult entering the workforce. It was just super incredible.
You learn a lot, you’re not expecting too necessarily. And then that kind of transformed into as a college student and like working. And then I was like, I said, able to be a member of the Peer education team and help students. So it’s kind of cool. Like I was a part of SSB from like both sides.
Jeff Thompson: Oh, that’s cool. What led you to Rainbow Tree? How did that come about finding it, applying for and how did you go about that process?
Gabby Gingras: That’s a great question because even people that don’t face challenges or have visual disabilities, especially younger people just entering the workforce or having a super, super difficult time, even doing any interviews.
I had been working for AmeriCorps and I did the internship, but now I was looking for like a real full-time job and I was just struggling. My best case scenario would have been working in an environmental field and something that would be like working with my background in environmental and sustainability. But at that point, I was just hoping for any job, like anything I could feasibly do, just anything for experience and build up my resume.
And I was desperate. Like I had done a couple interviews and like nothing had like fell through. And one of my friends back in college was actually working for Rainbow as on their tech crew, like actually doing the treatments and injecting trees. She graduated the same year as me and was my same major and we talked all the time. And I’m always like, oh gosh, that’s really cool. And we had had some really in-depth conversations about forestry and management. And they had kind of been on my radar for a while, but then I saw that they had remote customer service job openings and was like, okay, I’ll apply. Like at that point, I was applying for like everything, you know what I mean? Just anything to get my foot in the door.
That was the only interview I had ever had where they actually hired me on the spot. They’re like, one quote from my boss now, I love her, she’s amazing, was just from your bright bubbly personality. And I can hear the passion that you have for the environment and what you do. Like I can tell you’re going to be a perfect fit. Like I’m giving you the green light right now and just saying like I’m immediately hiring you.
And I was blown away. Like I had never been hired in like essentially the middle of the job interview. I was blown away.
I’m like, okay, let’s do this.
Jeff Thompson: How did it really feel?
Gabby Gingras: I almost cried. Like I was like, God, this is life changing, and I’ve worked so hard to get to this point. My dad always calls me like a bit of a dreamer or whatever. And I’m like, this is it. I’m doing the things and all my dreams winding up all of a sudden.
Jeff Thompson: Well, your excitement in it when you were just talking about it earlier on, I mentioned ash tree and you went into the ash tree and stuff like that. I do woodworking. So I know different woods and stuff.
Gabby Gingras: Oh, that’s fascinating. I love that.
Jeff Thompson: I have Mountain Ash, wainscotting around my dining room area and that’s ash.
Gabby Gingras: Now an ash tree is actually one of the only like varieties of ash trees that are more resistant to the emerald ash bore. I’m just like a fountain of true knowledge now and I love to pull it out for anyone that’ll listen.
Jeff Thompson: Well, that’s why they hired you because I caught it right away. I just mentioned something I heard about it. You knew about it and you can explain it. It’s just awesome.
Gabby Gingras: Yeah, we have like an entire eco science team and I work mostly with the tree care side, but we’re all like the same company. And one of our like company values is the environment and anything we can do to not only like mitigate harmful effects, but also how can we build it up? How can we make it even healthier and do what we can for all the trees and the entire ecosystem that we work with? And it’s just amazing.
Jeff Thompson: What advice do you have for high school students, college students? Through your journey, you’ve been there, you’ve done that, you’re employed. What advice would you have for someone entering their own journey?
Gabby Gingras: Yeah, so this has kind of been an underlying theme of our talk today, but also like my entire life is it’s okay to ask for help and it’s okay if you don’t know how to do something like you can learn and it doesn’t really matter if you’re different because like everyone’s different and it can be scary, but if you want to go far and like do the things you want to do in life, like you’re gonna need help, like you don’t have to do it or you couldn’t do it all on your own and there are people out there that will not only help you, but it’ll be awesome and you can learn so much.
Like I said earlier, like different things work for different people, so it’s okay to try new things and do what works best for you and don’t be afraid to speak up for yourself.
Like we talked about advocacy, but that’s so important because if you don’t stand up for yourself and you don’t have that voice, then who will, right?
The other thing I just want to say because I, you know, eight, nine years ago, I was just confined to a hospital bed and at that point I was, I just want to go home, you know, I didn’t think I would ever get to college or I didn’t ever think I would even have a job. Just like keep trying, like you don’t know how things are going to go ever, like just keep trying, just do the things you think are difficult because even if you don’t think it’ll be worth it, even if you don’t think anything will come of it, there’s no harm in trying.
And there are people out there that no matter how much vision they have or how much mobility or what things that have been really hard that they’ve been through in life, like that will have awesome things happen to them later on and will have good experiences. You’ve just got to hold out and have hope and resilience, I think is a great trait to have.
Jeff Thompson: That’s awesome. I want to throw something new at you here. What hobbies do you have? Do you have any hobbies?
Gabby Gingras: Oh yeah, I’ve got a couple. I’m a huge cat person. I just adopted a shelter cat, not a shelter cat, but he was a rescue. He’s 10 months old. His name is Rocky. He’s my little kitty. I’m just a big cat person. I love cats and animals and the environment, you know, all that. But I also am really big into reading, writing. I played Dungeons and Dragons sometimes. I want to get more into it.
I’m not part of any campaigns right now, but I want to be. So I read a lot. I read a lot.
I love to go on walks and I’m a big birder. I’d bird by ear mostly. And there’s also cool apps that you can have that will tell you what birds you’re hearing or if you take a photo of even like a bird you can’t see, but it’ll tell you the species.
Jeff Thompson: Have you heard of the Merlin?
Gabby Gingras: Yes, that’s the app I’m talking about. I had the Merlin app. I love the Merlin app. If you don’t have the Merlin app and you love birds, you’ve got to get the Merlin app. It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever had ever.
Jeff Thompson: I was trying to figure out what this was out there. And so you can actually hit record and it’ll come back and tell you what, you know, there were like four different birds going off and one was a Pileated woodpecker. That’s what I was looking for.
Gabby Gingras: Yes, I love Pileated woodpeckers, their huge.
Jeff Thompson: Oh yeah. So every morning last summer, well not every morning, but you know in the morning I would go out there and there would be the Pileated woodpecker sound. And the other thing is on that app you can look up different birds and hear what they sound like.
Gabby Gingras: Yes, and I’m like, I took like a vertebrate natural history class in college and I can ID birds on my own sound and calls pretty good. But if I’m not sure about something or if I hear something new, I will check Merlin and do my best to figure out what bird it was. Me and my dad would have competitions about how many birds we could log in Merlin or like record. It was very fun.
Jeff Thompson: I was shocked at the Pileated because you don’t find them around too much.
Gabby Gingras: No, like the largest species of woodpecker native to Minnesota that they can be a really fun find. I think the most interesting bird I’ve gotten on Merlin is either the Great Corn Owl recorded.
Jeff Thompson: Oh really?
Gabby Gingras: And then I’ve gotten sand hill cranes. So there’s actually by where my parents live, there’s like a nature reserve, a state forest, and we go in the wildlife refuge and there’s some really, really cool birds you can pick up. Like I’ve gotten the sand hill cranes, double crested cormorants, some cool birds out there.
Jeff Thompson: I think it’s really neat that you take the time. I mean everyone should take the time to just stop and listen sometimes and see what’s nature’ is out there. That’s great.
Gabby Gingras: Yes.
Jeff Thompson: Well Gabby, thank you so much for coming on and sharing all about your journey, your hobbies, everything. And hopefully the listeners will take from this because you don’t have to do it alone as we said earlier.
Gabby Gingras: Yeah, well thank you for having me Jeff. It’s been amazing and yeah, I hope people out there got something out of it and I hope I was able to put some good in the world.
Jeff Thompson: You sure did. Thank you.
Such a great time talking to Gabby Gingras, and be sure to check out episode one of the Two Journeys to Employment series with Kat Wilke. You’ll find the links in the show notes.
Jeff Thompson:
To find out more about all the programs at State Services for the Blind, contact Shane.DeSantis at state.mn .us. That’s Shane.DeSantis at state.mn.us.
Be sure to contact your State Services for the Blind, your Voc Rehab, and find out what they can do for you. Live, work, read, succeed.
[Music] [Transition noise] –
When we share-
What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities