Blind student becoming a journo

This honestly blew my mind a little.

I don’t want to come across as thinking someone with a handicap is weaker or less-able to do something. That’s not the case. Within my family we have people with medical issues, and very little slows those people down (hat tip: my mother). Even so, when I see a headline like this — Blind Conestoga journalism student the picture of determination — I can’t help but be taken aback.

Ashley Welford-Costelloe, 23, is a student at Conestoga College in Ontario, Canada. She is completely blind and is a journalism student who is excelling, even in photography class.

The Record of Kitchener, Canada, ran a story about Costelloe on Monday, and it is an incredible story depicting the student’s determination to make due with a malady that has affected her since childhood.

In the article, teacher Dave Chidley even said he wasn’t sure how to handle a blind student in his photography class. He said, “It did mess with my head a little bit. My first impression was: ‘Wow! How do I deal with this?'”

But Chidley said she’s doing just fine in the class, and Costelloe said she loves studying journalism.

Let this be a lesson to everyone: you can do whatever you want in life; don’t let anything stand in your way.

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About toddvogts 833 Articles
Todd R. Vogts, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of media at Sterling College in Kansas. Previously, he taught yearbook, newspaper, newsmagazine, and online journalism in various Kansas high schools, and he ran a weekly newspaper in rural Kansas. He continues to freelance as a professional journalist from time to time. Also, Vogts is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the Journalism Education Association (JEA), and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), among others. He earned his Master Journalism Educator (MJE) certification from JEA in 2022. When he’s not teaching or writing, he runs his mobile disk jockey service and takes part in other entrepreneurial ventures. He can be reached at twitter.com/toddvogts or via his website at www.toddvogts.com.