Impaired, But Empowered: A Memoir of Faith, Fortitude and Fortune

Growing up in Mineral Wells, Texas, during the 1950s and 60s was anything but idyllic for Walter Ashby. Due to a misdiagnosis and medical error, his sister Janie went from being a lively young girl to a shell of a person who required their parents’ attention 24 hours a day, every day. To add insult to injury, his parents received another blow: before Walter was six years old, he lost 98 percent of his vision, leaving him legally blind. Speaking as though he was not present, doctors told Walter’s parents not to expect much: he wouldn’t graduate from high school, let alone attend college. He would never drive, and probably wouldn’t do anything meaningful with his life. While the diagnosis stung, instead of looking at his disability as an impairment, Walter saw it as a challenge. He didn’t want to be a burden to his parents-instead Walter chose to disregard his naysayers and prove how wrong they were. By relying on faith-along with his own initiative and a handful of caring adults including his father-not only did he graduate from high school and college, Walter earned two graduate degrees, married the girl of his dreams, became a father, and enjoyed a long and successful career helping others. Walter proved the cynics wrong. Impaired, But Empowered is a story of the human spirit and how that spirit has been passed to future generations-both Ashby’s daughters and one grandson inherited the same gene and are also sight-impaired. Most of all, Impaired, But Empowered is the story about why you should never stop believing in yourself or your faith.