Meet Perkins Spokesperson Jaimi Lard
Jaimi wears an eager smile whenever she gets to go somewhere she hasn't been before, meet someone new, or attempt something for the first time.
"I love adventure," says Jaimi, who has tried everything from windsurfing off the coast of California to swinging from a trapeze bar at the indoors Jordan's Furtniture Trapeze School.Jaimi is always ready to enter into uncharted territory. She refuses to let the fact that she has been deaf and blind since birth stop her from having adventures.
"Anything is possible – you've just got to go for it," she says.
Educating others about what is achievable for people with disabilities is a central part of Jaimi's life. She works as a spokesperson at the Perkins School for the Blind, traveling to schools and civic organizations and speaking, through her interpreter, about what it's like to be deafblind.
"I always enjoy meeting people and I like people to get exposed to deafblindness and know what that experience is like," Jaimi says.
Jaimi began defying the expectations of others at a very early age. Jaimi's mother had rubella during her pregnancy and as a result Jaimi was born totally deaf with virtually no vision. But Jaimi's parents refused to accept the opinions of doctors who said their daughter would be uneducable.
When she was five years old Jaimi left her home in Long Island and traveled to Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown. There she met children who talked with their hands just like she did and teachers who understood how to present a world she could neither see nor hear.
Jaimi continued her education in Perkins' Deafblind Program, growing up on Perkins' campus, and graduated in 1986 at the age of 22.
"I remember growing up and feeling very fortunate," says Jaimi, who credits her positive attitude today to supportive family and friends as well as a nurturing environment at Perkins.
For Jaimi, everything is about contact and communication. The world is only as dark and silent as the people around her allow it to be.
At Perkins, Jaimi learned skills to help her be as independent as possible. She took part in a vocational training program and landed a job at Brigham and Women's Hospital where she delivered mail and transported blood samples throughout the facility's 16 floors. She worked there for 13 years.
In 1995, Jaimi testified before the U.S. Congress hearings on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act about the impact of educating individuals who are deafblind.
In June of 2000, Jaimi returned to Perkins as official spokesperson and today she gives presentations through an interpreter at schools and civic organizations and helps with tours for visitors to Perkins.
While an independent living counselor helps answer mail, pay bills and run errands, Jaimi relies on computer technology and large print software to complete a variety of other daily activities, including shopping, reading the newspaper and sending email.
On her trip to California with other members of AccesSportAmerica, Jaimi practiced yoga, played tennis, and went canoeing and windsurfing.
"I can't see, I can't hear, but I want to do the same as other people," Jaimi says.
When Jaimi speaks to groups, she helps people to understand how deafblind people like herself can overcome disabilities and gain independence. In January of 2008, Jaimi was named a "Hero Among Us" by the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation for her work educating and inspiring others.
Jaimi loves to share her story and meet new people. To schedule a visit from Jaimi at your school or organization, call (617) 972-7335 or send an email to publicspeaker@perkins.org.