Scholarship given to visually impaired students

California State University, Stanislaus, student Mauricio Molina, who is visually impaired and training himself to be a technology expert so he can help others like himself, is one of 15 people chosen by the California State University Foundation as a recipient of the Dale M. Schoettler Scholarship for Visually Impaired Students.

The scholarship is named after Dale Schoettler, a visually impaired businessman who decided to help other blind adults. It is awarded by the CSU Foundation through the chancellor's office. A total of 15 Schoettler scholarships were awarded to students from all 23 CSU campuses.

"I'm so grateful that the scholarship was available," Molina said. "Finding employment for someone who is visually impaired is just impossible. I needed the help and don't know what I'd do without it."
Molina, a former postal worker and now a full-time student at CSU Stanislaus, is thrilled to be a recipient and has high hopes the scholarship will help him prepare for a new career.

A few years ago Molina was an average guy with a family, stable job and good health until he was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) in 1993. After learning about his disease, Molina faced much more than just losing his sight. He lost his job and had to leave his hometown of San José to find a more affordable place to live. He and his family moved to Modesto in 2001, and by 2002, Molina was enrolled at Modesto Junior College.

Molina earned his associate of arts degree in general education from MJC in 2004 where he was named the Disability Student of the Year. He transferred to CSU Stanislaus and plans to earn a bachelor's degree in history. For the past year at CSU Stanislaus, Molina, who has found that accommodations and accessibility for the blind are limited in most places, is pleased with all the university has had to offer him through its Disability Resource Services program.

"The university has provided me with everything I have needed," Molina said. "It's more than anything I could have hoped for. Everyone at Disability Services is great and has gone above and beyond."

In addition to having a supportive wife, two caring daughters and a university that accommodates him, Molina also has an older brother with RP who inspires him to persevere through the difficulties facing him.

"He's the one who's paved the way for me," said Molina. "He doesn't have to go through it alone and I don't have to go through it alone. We've been there for each other."

Molina is a senior at CSU Stanislaus, planning to graduate in the fall. He hopes to enroll in the Single Subject Teacher Credential program at CSU Stanislaus and wants to teach high school history.

Molina's battle with RP has not only brought him back to school, but he also feels it has given him new aspirations and desires. The former postal worker has refused to lose hope and focused on going to school and educating himself about technology for the blind so that he can help other blind adults who are technologically illiterate.

Molina has volunteered at the Stanislaus County Library in Modesto to teach other visually impaired people how to use technology and encourage them to experience life to the fullest.
"I like showing blind adults who have no knowledge about what a computer can do for them, how it can make life a bit easier," Molina said. "That's where I get pleasure because it's important for them to know that you don't have to sit at home and listen to books on tapes. There are other things you can do."

Molina has already lost his central vision and is slowly losing his peripheral vision, a view that resembles looking through a porthole. He is not, however, the typical visually impaired person with a cane. Molina still wears his glasses.

"I've noticed more of my visual sphere is going away," said Molina. "There is no telling of how fast it'll go. I'm a blind guy with glasses and it really throws people off, but I like to make use of whatever vision I have left."