8 minute read
UCM Alumni Work to Change Perceptions of Blindness
It’s hot. July-in-Missouri hot, when the heat and humidity make breathing, moving — even thinking — a chore. The only respite is a slight wind that feels like the first wave of heat spilling from an open oven door.
Yet here, just north of Kansas City at Alphapointe Adventure Camp, there is no complaining. Laughter, excited voices and cheers echo through the trees at Heartland Center, near Parkville, Missouri. Young people, dripping with sweat, slowly pull themselves up a climbing wall to a crescendo of encouragement from the ground.
It’s a scene played out all over the country each summer, as teens head to camp to swim, ride horses, practice archery and fling themselves down zip lines.
This camp, however, is different. These campers are blind or visually impaired.
“We want them to have that traditional experience,” explains Jake McLaughlin, ’13, Alphapointe’s senior manager of events and special programs. “This camp helps them be around people who understand what they’re going through. It also teaches them just how capable they are while developing social skills; this gives them the platform to grow in confidence, determination and independence.”
In Good Company
Jake is one of three University of Central Missouri alumni on Alphapointe’s Fund Development team. He joined the organization right out of college after graduating with a Sociology degree and credits the support he received from his professors and advisors for guiding him to where he is today.
“My freshman year, I met with Ken Schueller,” Jake says of his first trip to what was then UCM’s Office of Career Services. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do. He and his staff worked directly with me to explore my passions and interests. They set all of us up for success.”
Ken retired in August 2024 as director of UCM’s Success Advising Center. He was instrumental in building subject-area success advising teams with a personal success advisor to serve the needs of each student.
A few years after graduating, Jake went back to UCM to represent Alphapointe at a career expo — only this time, he was there sharing his professional experience with students.
“That’s when it came full circle,” Jake says. “I don’t know how many people he has helped, but for Ken to see me coming back to help other young people, the smile I saw on his face is something I’ll never forget.”
The other UCM alumni working alongside Jake on Alphapointe’s Fund Development team are Scott Cotter, ’87, director of communications, and the department head, Gina Gowin, ’90.
I don’t seek out people specifically because they are alumni,” explains Gina, who serves as chief development officer for Alphapointe and executive director of the Alphapointe Foundation. “I just look for and find the best people, and they happen to be from CMSU or, now, UCM. They have similar values and are grounded in a way that makes them very capable and very committed to the work we’re doing.
Gina attended UCM to study Social Work. Although there were larger schools around the Midwest with similar programs, the one in Warrensburg stood out.
“When I got into the program, I knew I had found my people,” she says. “It was also a program where you could get a practicum in some big places. … Mine was in the Children’s Mercy Social Work Department.”
Scott says he, too, was inspired to consider a life of service during his college years.
“We had a campaigns class where we had to develop an entire promotional effort for Old Drum Animal Shelter,” he explains. “Near the end of the class, our professor had an earnest conversation with us about different ways we could apply our talent and experience to bring change to those in need, just as we had with Old Drum.”
Scott began volunteering for Wayside Waifs in Kansas City and eventually ended up working for the Pet Resource Center of KC. Another factor that influenced his career path was a chance encounter with a blind UCM student named Randy Becker, '86, who now also works at Alphapointe.
“We were in the radio club together,” Scott recalls. “When I saw this job [at Alphapointe], I thought back to how independent and capable Randy was, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to support others in the effort to live life on their terms.”
Changing Perceptions
According to the National Institutes of Health, it is expected that visual impairment and blindness in working-age and older adults will double in the next 30 years due to people living longer and the rising rate of diabetes.
The latest research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that approximately 15% of adults in the United States are living with diabetes, and 10% of that population reports severe vision difficulty or blindness. In fact, diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among Americans between the ages of 18 and 64.
Alphapointe is committed to helping this growing population continue to live full, independent lives. The nonprofit organization is one of the nation’s largest employers of people who are blind or visually impaired, while also serving as a major advocate for changing people’s perceptions about those with vision loss.
“Our mission is to change the way the world sees blindness,” says Gina. “We want the sighted world to know that vision loss does not prevent people from accomplishing incredible things. At the same time, we work to help those who are blind or visually impaired know their true abilities and how to use their talents to succeed.”
Unemployment rates for people who are blind or visually impaired hover between 60% and 70% according to VisionServe Alliance, largely because workplaces either don’t believe people who are blind or visually impaired can do the work, or businesses feel they are unable to make the required accommodations.
Alphapointe employs blind and visually impaired staff at its locations in Kansas City and Queens, New York, in various manufacturing, development, technology and professional service jobs. One KC employee is the stage manager for local theater productions. Another was a commentator for an NBA playoff game. The organization also provides approximately 4,000 children, teens, working-age adults and seniors with clinical services, comprehensive rehabilitation, job placement and skill-building opportunities.
A World of Possibility
UCM student Jordyn “Jay” Walker participated in an Alphapointe Technology Camp in 2019, the summer after an autoinflammatory disease caused her to suddenly lose circulation to her optic nerves and become fully blind. She and other high school students gained experience with assistive and adaptive technology, such as screen readers and braille keyboards.
Alphapointe also brought in guest speakers during camp, and Jay specifically remembers a visitor who taught the group about advocacy.
“She really facilitated my need to be an advocate for myself, and that changed my whole world,” Jay says. "Being at that camp genuinely changed me — not necessarily because of the technology but because of the interactions that I had in camp."
Five years later, Jay is advocating for herself and other students with disabilities by working with UCM Accessibility Services and students in the Design and Drafting Technology program to develop a 3D map of campus. The map, initially funded by a donor-powered Opportunity Grant through the UCM Alumni Foundation, will feature 3D-printed buildings that mimic the buildings’ actual shapes, braille signage and differently textured surfaces for sidewalks, grass, streets and accessible entrances. Jay explains:
If you don’t have a visual impairment, you have a tendency to take for granted the fact that you can look at a building or landmark and know where you are; as a blind person, I just have the sidewalk in front of me.
“Being a part of this project has been so cool," she says. "I would go in and check the braille, and they’d ask me to get from Nickerson to the library. If I couldn’t do it with the map, they’d figure out a way to fix it.”
Jay is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Gender and Sexuality Studies with minors in Anthropology, Sociology and Psychology. After graduating in May 2026, she plans to continue at UCM to earn her master’s degree in Counseling. Her dream career is to fill a niche as a family and relationship therapist for clients with disabilities. She has learned that her vision loss does not define her; neither does it stand in the way of realizing her full potential.
Teens at Alphapointe’s Adventure Camp come to the same realization. As they ride horses, scale a climbing wall and navigate a ropes course 40 feet in the air, limitations drop away, and the sun-drenched Missouri outdoors opens up into a world of possibility.
Are you working or networking with other UCM alumni? Share your story at ucmmagazine@ucmo.edu
