EDITORIAL
The power of resilience
In her keynote , Karen tells the story of learning to walk to Mary ’ s school blind because it illustrates perfectly all the aspects of her resilience methodology :
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She had to be centred . All the strands of her attention were gathered up to focus because feeling scattered could have meant being hit by a car or getting impossibly lost . She was spacious . She couldn ’ t be distracted by self-pity or resentment that , after almost 20 years of working to become a senior lawyer , she was back learning how to cross a road . She had to prioritise getting strong . Less than six months earlier , Karen had been working with an occupational therapist just to get out of a chair and to stand and walk steadily . She had to get smart . “ So many of the skills that had allowed me to operate before my injury were completely redundant ,” says Karen . “ I couldn ’ t read with my eyes so had to learn how to operate voiceover technology blind . I used to drive and now I had to walk paths I couldn ’ t see clearly . In all sorts of scenarios , I found that just because you can ’ t do things the same , doesn ’ t mean you can ’ t do them ”. j
Karen says being there for her daughters provided the purpose and drive she needed to confront the difficulties that stood in her way back to a life she recognised : “ When I got home , I was sleeping 16 hours a day and making my way around inside very tentatively . But once I was able to do the basics of caring for myself , I got serious about conquering every one of the obstacles in my path . Mark backed me every step of the way .”
Suffering significant muscle wastage after six months of laying flat or being wheeled , she persisted with extensive physical therapy to regain her strength and balance , and learned to walk with a long white cane that gave her feedback on the surface ahead of her and warned of any obstacles in her path . Karen learned how to navigate public places – how and where to cross roads , and how to manage staircases and escalators – with training from Vision Australia .
She adds : “ One of the most interesting things I learned during orientation and mobility training was that I ’ m completely blind in my right eye . My instructor would have me look out for landmarks as I walked around and I ’ d always miss those on my right . With only a 30-degree field of very low-quality greyscale vision in my left eye , and none at all from my right , it was a real issue .”
A new mantra In the early days , Karen found the more she clung to the old way of doing things , the less she was able to do and the more frustrated she felt . So , she came up with a new mantra : ‘ Rigidity ruins resiliency . Loosen your grip . Tighten your connections .’
Not only that , she began to recruit a team to provide support she ’ d never needed before – specialists and general practitioners , psychologists , occupational therapists , home modification experts , orientation and mobility instructors , adaptive technology trainers , a braille teacher , and others with vision loss and acquired brain injury .
“ I gained momentum when I got support ,” she remembers . “ I sought out support groups for people with disability and was struck by how widely people ’ s responses to their challenges varied . Some people languished without pursuing the knowledge and skills for the life they could have been living , while others clearly had a growth mindset and were thriving .”
Karen met people whose courage and adaptive capacity blew her away and inspired her to travel interstate with a tour group and then alone , to return to work as a lawyer , and to cook , climb mountains and fly in hot air balloons .
“ I owe a great debt of gratitude to a woman with a severe vision impairment who I call ‘ crash helmet Connie ’ in my keynote . Connie would crack her head on the rotary clothesline every time she ventured into her own backyard – hence the crash helmet . But she flew on her own from Sydney to New York , arriving in the middle of the night and catching a taxi to her friend ’ s apartment .”
It was only after Karen heard about Connie ’ s travel feat that she summoned up the courage to do Mary ’ s walk to school [ above ] that she ’ d been rehearsing with her instructor for weeks . This inspires her final piece of wisdom : “ Courage is contagious . Catch it . Spread it .” S
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20 Executive PA | Winter Issue 2023