[Nyagdu] Sharing some exciting news with you all

Thu Feb 16 21:11:21 UTC 2012

Thank you.
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

> From: jbrew48 at verizon.net
> To: nyagdu at nfbnet.org
> Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:49:31 -0500
> Subject: Re: [Nyagdu] Sharing some exciting news with you all
> 
> very nice article Cheryl.
> 
> Julie Phillipson
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "cheryl echevarria" <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com>
> To: "nyagdu" <nyagdu at nfbnet.org>; "Writer's Division Mailing List" 
> <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2012 6:14 AM
> Subject: [Nyagdu] Sharing some exciting news with you all
> 
> 
> 
> 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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