Gregory Peterson, from Elmwood Park, Illinois, has led what he proudly describes as a prosperous and fulfilling life, complete with a career he enjoyed, children, and grandchildren. He started his career as a fourth-generation wallpaper hanger and painter, then went back to school and became an operating engineer. He spent years as a union engineer working on air conditioning and maintenance for the Marriott Corporation.
Gregory is now 60 years old and has lived with low vision his entire life. "For me, I've never seen 20/20, so I don't know what it's like," he reflects. In his teens, he was diagnosed with Cone-rod dystrophy, "but a few years ago," he notes, "my eyes got progressively worse."
As it turned out, Gregory had cataracts. But even after surgery to remove them, his eyesight did not improve. "That’s as good as I’m going to get," Gregory says of his new level of vision. "And here I am. Now I’m legally blind and that’s it."
One day his mother-in-law was talking to a cousin, and she mentioned Gregory’s visual impairment. As it turns out, the cousin also has a visual impairment—macular degeneration. She recommended Hadley could be a good place for Gregory to find help.
"My first thought was 'Hadley School for the Blind? Well, I don't need that. I’ve just got bad eyes,'" Gregory recalls.
He did eventually reach out to Hadley, asking specifically about resources that can help when you’ve had to stop driving. One of the upcoming discussion groups was talking about that very topic, so Gregory joined in—and he’s never looked back.
"From there, I dug into the website and began taking workshops," Gregory says "Because I like to cook, I started with those and found them very helpful. Now whenever I’m done using a sharp knife, I put it behind my sink. That’s a tip I use every single day."
On a follow-up call with Hadley, Georgette from our Help Desk asked Gregory if he would be interested in connecting with a peer mentor as part of a pilot program. He was very interested, and within several weeks, he was matched with a mentor named Bill.
"It's been one of the best things for me," Gregory remarks. "Bill calls every two weeks. We don’t talk about ‘woe is me.’ We talk about life and what’s out there to help. He helps me out and I help him out. Just to have somebody to talk to that’s going through the same thing is extremely helpful. You put one foot forward at a time."
Bill introduced Gregory to several other organizations serving the visually impaired community, including Foundation Fighting Blindness and the Illinois Council for the Blind. Gregory jumped
right in. "I was a union guy, so I love meeting people and talking. I am now becoming an advocate for the community."
The tremendous impact he felt from having a mentor inspired Gregory to contribute to our Insights & Sound Bites podcast. In this episode, he shares how connecting with his mentor helped him work through frustrations and anxieties around vision loss and "put one foot forward."
Now, Gregory has become a peer mentor himself. "It’s very good to just hear someone else’s story; what they’re going through and struggling with," he says. "For me, it’s a good thing to serve, to give back a little bit. I reached out and there was a service there that helped me. Now, I just want to pay it forward and help out in any way I can."
For his contributions to the Hadley community, Gregory has been named a Hadley Hero.
On a recent phone call, Gregory summed up his current outlook on life: "Well, here it is. This is the beginning of my next chapter."