Episode 33 - Losing Sight, Finding Strength: Laura Bratton on Resilience, Boundaries, and Empowerment

By Jessica Garrison 

Podmatch has brought so many incredible women our way, and Laura Bratton is no exception. She has been on dozens of podcasts before, and we are thrilled to host her this week and add The F.E.E.L Podcast onto her list. Laura describes herself as courageous.

Laura has a backstory like none other that we’ve heard before on the podcast: she lost her sight when she was about 16/17 years old. There was an immense level of grief that came with this, but she attributes her strength to her support system. Her family empowered her, not necessarily through their words, but through their actions. Laura tells us a story of being asked to do the dishes, using the excuse that she couldn’t because she was blind. Instead of her parents letting her shirk her chores, they enforced their rules as they had before she lost her sight. Not only was it difficult for her to continue to work towards the standards as before, but she also recognizes the difficulty her parents had in the situation. Not coddling or giving in helped Laura in the long run, though taking the struggle away all together would’ve been easiest. They believed in her when she didn’t believe in herself, and that is a powerful sentiment to have in life. If you surround yourself with people like that, even if they aren’t in your family, then you will live a rich, fulfilling life.

All of these experiences have amounted to Laura’s why and her values. She wants to be the empowering factor in a person’s life like her parents had been for her; she was able to have the confidence to accomplish so much in her life because of people like her parents. Boundaries also have a lot to do with accomplishing her why because people tend to put Laura in a box. It’s easy to judge someone from the outside—we all do it, but it’s what we do with those thoughts that matters most. We have to push those thoughts away, reminding ourselves that no one deserves to be pigeonholed. We have to put judgment aside and get curious. For Laura, it’s all about what she wants and what her passions are. If someone is overstepping a boundary, she will say so.

The final thing from Laura that I wanted to share is her wisdom when it comes to embracing the layered aspects of yourself. She says that you can grieve and move forward at the same time. She can grieve her vision for the rest of her life as well as moving forward, and that is okay. She needed to give herself that permission, and in turn, remind everyone to give themselves permission, too.

Laura has such incredible strength, optimism, and conviction. Her story is an inspiration for all to listen to, not only to the blind community. It is beneficial to listen to this when preparing for your embracing layers journey, or just need a bit of motivation to keep going. No matter what challenges arise, there is a way to conquer them.

Ways to Engage: Next time you make a snap judgment about someone, change it into curiosity. Ask them a question, talk about their day, or engage in a way that will challenge the way you see the world. Keep moving, keep growing.