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 Michael Guajardo - Assistive Technology Trainer
In 1983 you are nine years old and you have a little stigmatism other than that you are perfect. Riding your bike, playing basketball, hanging out with your friends and getting into the usual trouble kids do. Until you go to bed one night and in the morning open your eyes and out of one see everything in yellow hues. Actually, at nine you think everything is cool including that. Of course his parents didn’t think so. Michael’s Dad was in the Army and stationed in Germany at the time and took him to the base hospital. They ran many tests and couldn’t figure it out so they sent Michael back to the states to Walter Reed Hospital in DC where they determined he suffered from Retinitis Pigmentosa.
Within 9 months Michael had lost all vision in his left eye although his right eye was gradual and took many years before he lost total vision. His life changed drastically – He could no longer play basketball or ride his bike. He would fall over things but didn’t want his friends to know about his vision so until college Michael just allowed everyone to think he was clumsy.
Once in college Michael decided to drop the “clumsy routine” and started using a cane figuring that college students would be more mature and accepting. He loved to draw and studied graphic art but as his eyesight diminished he realized that his dreams of working in a fast paced ad agency would not be possible. Computers were a second love and he took a six month computer course at San Antonio Community College hoping he would be job ready.
Upon graduation he was offered a position teaching assistive technology. After three years the company he was employed with went out of business and Michael moved home to figure out what he could do for the rest of his life as a blind person. Who would hire him flashed through his mind? He decided to go back to school and get a degree – Bachelor of Applied Science majoring in Computer Information Systems and graduated in 2004.
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 After graduation Michael opened his own online retail store – but he really wanted to be on his own and couldn’t manage that without a steady income. A friend of his, Marti Sickler, an assistive technology trainer at the San Antonio Lighthouse for the Blind called Michael and told him of an opening in her department. In 2006 Michael joined the San Antonio Lighthouse family.
Michael knows how important his job at the S A Lighthouse is. Working with blind people, both could relate to each other and see what’s possible. It’s inspirational.
Michael is very involved in the Foundation for Fighting Blindness helping with fundraising as well as his own financial support. He is very involved with their online discussion boards sharing his knowledge as to what is out there for blind people as well as to parents who discover their child has vision issues and do not know where to turn. He is an advocate for spreading the word that blindness does not mean you have to spend your life alone and in darkness and also shares this knowledge at speaking engagements for the Division of Blind Services. Michael also shares his expertise and experience with the American Council for the Blind’s community of technology trainers - they share the latest info with each other and help one another utilize the assistive technology that is available today.
Michael is a rising star and won’t let blindness stand in his way….because in darkness he “shines”.
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