Still Showing Up | Leighann Fuller on Blindness, Universities, and Real Support — Thriving with Vision Loss

Blind professional. Inside a university. Helping studentsthrough what she is living with herself. Leighann Fuller is the Visually Impaired ServicesCoordinator at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. She has lived with glaucoma since her teenage years, lost vision in one eye over a decade ago, and lost vision in her other eye in 2023. She also lives with rheumatoid arthritis.She knows what it feels like to grieve your sight, to ask for help, and to keep going — and she brings all of that into the work she does every day supporting blind and low-vision students. In this episode of Thriving with Vision Loss, Michelle andLeighann explore what real support looks like from the inside — not just accommodations on paper, but the emotional labor, advocacy, and human connection that actually help people move forward. In this episode, you will learn:-       What a Visually Impaired Services Coordinator actually does inside a university-       How Leighann navigated losing vision in both eyes while continuing to support others-       The emotional stages of grief that come with vision loss and how to move through them-       How acceptance shapes the choices you make and the support you give-       Where blind and low-vision students fall through the cracks Thriving with Vision Loss is an eleVIVO original series sharing stories, practical tools, and lived wisdom from people building meaningful lives with blindness or low vision. eleVIVO supports individuals and families navigating vision loss, and is designed to scale in partnership with agencies and nonprofit organizations that serve them. If you or someone you care about is navigating vision loss,eleVIVO offers a free six-month individual trial. You will find the link below. https://elevivo.com/#/freetrial Learn more about eleVIVO:https://elevivo.com Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Visually ImpairedServices for Students:https://www.siue.edu/access/visually-impaired-services/index.shtml If this conversation inspires you and you would like to share your story, email [email protected] This conversation reflects personal experience and is not intended as medical or legal advice