Once Upon a Challenge

It was the late 1940s when a tall, skinny sixth-grader picked up a shiny object off the ground in her small Missouri town and became the victim of a tragic circumstance-an explosive left carelessly behind took away her vision and changed her forever. With a quietly inspirational style, Nancy Burns shares her poignant life experiences as a blind woman with the hope of educating and enlightening others about certain societal misconceptions and attitudes regarding those who are disabled. Beginning with the moment when she woke up in the hospital-both eyes bandaged-and realized she would not receive the emotional comfort and guidance she so desperately needed, Burns offers a compelling glimpse into the fulfilling world she created for herself, despite her disability. Her personal story chronicles her struggles as a young girl learning to live with her vision loss, her family’s inability to acknowledge her disability, and her determined journey to acquire the skills that led her to eventually become a vocational counselor who worked with disabled clients.