[Nyagdu] Sharing some exciting news with you all

[Tracy Carcione]

Nice article, Cheryl!
Tracy


>
> I had mentioned that I was going to be interviewed for this organization.
> February 16, 2012  This is from www.fortune52.com, I am also going to be
> honored with 52 other women from Across Long Island on March 12, 2012
> Cheryl Echevarria is blind and might not be able to sightsee like everyone
> else, yet this intrepid Brentwood woman loves to travel. She relies on her
> service dog, Maxx, her heightened sense of smell, touch and sound and the
> confidence that comes from traveling often.
> Born with Type 1 diabetes, Cheryl was 22 years old when she was diagnosed
> with diabetic retinopothy, a common diabetic eye disease that is the
> leading cause of blindness in American adults.Cheryl’s life changed
> forever one night in 2001 when she was driving home from her job as an
> administrative assistant when suddenly, she recalls, her vision became
> completely blurry. “I had to pull over. I couldn’t see.”Cheryl’s doctor
> told her that if her diabetes was affecting her eyes, it would also affect
> other organs in her body. Subsequently her kidneys began to fail as well.
> In 2002 she began kidney dialysis treatments three times a week for four
> hours a day. Her treatments continued for three years until she went
> through another life-altering experience when her friend Steve Carroll
> donated his kidney to her.
> Once Cheryl recuperated from the organ transplant, she was determined to
> go back to work. During her dialysis treatments, she lost her sight
> completely in one eye. She says her remaining sight is “like looking
> through a telescope hole covered in thick plastic.”
> Cheryl enrolled in a training program provided by the New York State
> Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped (CBVH), where she
> learned new job skills, including how to use computer software for the
> blind.After completing the program, Cheryl was ready for the next step in
> her recovery which was to go back to school. She began taking classes at
> Branford Hall Career Institute in Bohemia, and became the school’s first
> blind student to graduate. She found an administrative job in the
> healthcare field where she worked for two years.Cheryl felt she missed 10
> years of her life being sick and was ready to transition into a new
> career. She began scouring the internet for new connections.
> “I found the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) online and joined the
> greater Long Island chapter,” she says.The NFB is the largest non-profit
> organization in the world for the blind that is operated by the blind.
> Cheryl now serves as the treasurer of the Long Island chapter, adding that
> all members and officers must be blind to serve in a board position. “We
> are advocates for education, employment and accessibility,” Cheryl says
> proudly. “We lobby ourselves, we don’t hire anyone.”After searching
> through the federation’s resources, she decided that becoming a travel
> agent would be a good career choice. She loved to travel and she could
> work from home. “I have a background in customer service and sales, and
> this was a good fit,” she says. After completing her job training online,
> Cheryl started working through a host travel agency, confident that
> becoming a travel agent was the right career move.
> In 2009 Cheryl and her husband, Nelson, founded Echevarria Travel. Cheryl
> says Nelson is an integral part of the agency, and is the photographer and
> videographer for the travel images used on their website. “I’m the only
> blind travel agent in the tri-state area that I know of,” she says and was
> recently named president of the NFB’s national travel and tourism
> division.
> Cheryl’s blindness has given her a very clear insight into the planning
> required to ensure a pleasurable trip for her clients.Her agency offers
> services to everyone, but Cheryl’s specialty is the traveler who is blind,
> on dialysis, in a wheelchair, or has had an organ transplant. As a
> survivor of all of these illnesses, Cheryl is uniquely qualified to help
> them plan their trip.
> “I know what a person would need and the questions to ask,” she says.
> “What’s your degree of blindness?  Do you use a cane?”If travel plans
> include a cruise, she will want to know if the client can read Braille. “I
> ask because not everyone does,” she explains. “If they don’t [read
> Braille], I contact the cruise line and make sure they get a
> meet-and-greet and tour of the ship so they can familiarize themselves
> with their surroundings,” she says.
> If they plan on traveling with their service animal, Cheryl explains that
> they will need to go to their vet to get a health certificate and they
> need to secure a permit to bring the animal into another country.
> The cruise industry has taken notice of this newly mobile customer base
> and are making their vessels more accessible so sight-impaired travelers
> can acclimate themselves quickly.
> Cheryl has been working closely with Norwegian Cruise Lines, and says she
> helped them implement Braille menus on their ships.No two visually
> impaired people have the same level of functional vision so Cheryl helps
> her clients overcome some of the red tape they might encounter to ensure
> that they have a good experience. All of this pre-travel preparation
> includes additional paperwork that Cheryl helps her clients complete as
> part of her services.
> Understanding the requirements and information needed for traveling today
> is invaluable. As a travel advocate and advisor for the blind, Cheryl has
> opened up a world of new experiences for these sensory travelers that
> might have been out of reach before.For more information, email:
> reservations at echevarriatravel.com, call Cheryl at  631-456-5394 , or toll
> free at  866-580-5574  ; or go to:www.echevarriatravel.com. For daily
> updates read Cheryl’s blog atwww.echevarriatravel.wordpress.com
> Leading the Way in Independent Travel!
>
> Cheryl Echevarria
> http://www.echevarriatravel.com
> 631-456-5394
> reservations at echevarriatravel.com
>
> For daily updates read our blog at
> http://www.echevarriatravel.wordpress.com
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