EAP 206 - Embracing the Unseen - How Laura Bratton Harnessed Adversity for Impact
In this powerful episode of the Early Accountability Podcast, host Kimi Walker welcomes Laura Bratton, speaker, coach, author, and resilience advocate. Laura shares her remarkable journey of navigating life after losing her vision as a teenager due to a rare retinal eye disease. With candor and compassion, Laura discusses the emotional and practical challenges that came with her transition to blindness—highlighting the critical roles of family, friends, and community support in her healing and adaptation process.
The conversation dives deep into the themes of resilience, self-advocacy, and navigating change with courage and gratitude. Laura opens up about becoming the first blind student to receive a Master’s of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, tackling both internal and external obstacles along the way. She breaks down her trademarked approach of “Experiencing Grit and Gratitude” and offers listeners tangible strategies for facing setbacks, validating emotions, and moving forward moment by moment. Whether you’re grappling with change or helping others through life’s storms, this episode is a testament to the strength we find when we accept both the grit and the grace within ourselves. As Laura reminds us, “You are enough—right now, as you are.”
Topics Covered in This Episode
- Laura’s personal journey through vision loss and her path to resilience
- The transformative power of supportive relationships during major life transitions
- Advocating for yourself and adapting to new environments, like graduate school
- The true definition of grit and gratitude in facing adversity
- Practical steps to ground yourself during setbacks or major changes
- Rethinking resilience: validating emotions and taking small steps forward
About Laura Bratton
Laura Bratton was diagnosed with an eye disease at the age of nine and, over the next decade, faced the difficult transition to life without sight. Despite these challenges, she graduated with a BA in psychology from Arizona State University and went on to become the first blind student to earn a Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. Laura is the author of Harnessing Courage and the founder of Ubi Global, where she provides speaking and coaching to empower people to overcome obstacles with grit and gratitude
Connect with Laura Bratton
- Website: https://www.laurabratton.com/
- Email: laura@laurabratton.com
Connect with Kimi Walker:
- Visit: earlyaccountability.com
- LinkedIn: Kimi Walker
- Facebook: Kimi Walker
- Instagram: Kimi Walker
- YouTube: Kimi Walker
Transcript
Kimi Walker here and welcome back to the next episode of the
Speaker:Early Accountability Podcast.
Speaker:Today on the show we have Laura Bratton, and she's coming here today to talk to
Speaker:us about her story, how she has overcome eye disease and difficulty that would.
Speaker:Lead her to becoming blind.
Speaker:She's gonna talk about her transitions and adjusting to life without sight and
Speaker:how she's been able to make a new normal for herself and do all the things that
Speaker:she's dreamed of wanting to do and more.
Speaker:Laura, first off, thank you for being here.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:I'm excited to be here.
Speaker:Why don't you just start, you have a very amazing story.
Speaker:Why don't you just.
Speaker:Start at the beginning and tell the audience just everything
Speaker:about you, because I think there's so much from your childhood now
Speaker:that I think is so inspiring.
Speaker:And so encouraging.
Speaker:So I would love for you to share that with the audience.
Speaker:Yeah, so I'll make a very long story short, and then we can
Speaker:absolutely take it from there.
Speaker:So the first nine years of life were.
Speaker:I hate to use the word normal, but normal as far, when I say normal,
Speaker:healthy, hitting all the major, developmental marks, no issues.
Speaker:And then when I was nine, I was diagnosed with a very rare retinal eye disease.
Speaker:Then at the age of 14, really through high school, those four years of high
Speaker:school, I went from considered legally blind to know what I have today.
Speaker:No vision at all.
Speaker:So during those four years of high school, going through the traumatic
Speaker:transition of having to live life completely different, everything changing.
Speaker:Everything different being now a blind person in a sighted world.
Speaker:So that's where, and that's what led me to do the work I do today, speaking
Speaker:and coaching and writing a book on how do we navigate through life's
Speaker:major challenges and major changes.
Speaker:And so that's the, all my work is based on how do we experience
Speaker:grit and gratitude in the midst of change, in the midst of difficulty.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:What helped you cope with such a life changing transition?
Speaker:So it really, you were still young when you were dealing with the changes,
Speaker:like you said, through high school, like legally blind to full blindness.
Speaker:What were things that kept you grounded or kept you still moving forward and
Speaker:feeling very hopeful for what you know the future could hold for you?
Speaker:The major gift in the midst of the grief, in the midst of the
Speaker:loss was the gift of support.
Speaker:So to answer your question, how did I cope?
Speaker:It was the support around me.
Speaker:So when I'm living in deep, constant panic attacks, severely depressed, overwhelmed
Speaker:by grief, it was the support around me that empowered me to move forward.
Speaker:And that support wasn't just in words, it was in actions.
Speaker:So it looked like the support of my parents.
Speaker:Who every day would remind me and teach me, we don't know the future.
Speaker:All we have to do is take it moment by moment.
Speaker:So in the midst of depression, in the midst of panic, they were acknowledging
Speaker:clearly, yes, you're depressed.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:You're anxious.
Speaker:It was, they were fully acknowledging where I was and reminding me,
Speaker:all we have to do is get up, eat breakfast, and get to school on time.
Speaker:And if we accomplish that today, that'll be enough.
Speaker:So teaching me, rather than being overwhelmed by the magnitude of life
Speaker:and even the day of life, all you have to focus on is this very moment.
Speaker:It looked like the support of my brother who's five years older just continue
Speaker:to treat me like that annoying little sister and at the time that did not
Speaker:feel like support, I promise you that.
Speaker:I was like, you are so mean.
Speaker:But it was support because he taught me.
Speaker:You're so, you, you just can't see as well.
Speaker:The support looked like friends who just were excited to go to the store back then
Speaker:and buy the new like CD that was just released that week and just listen to
Speaker:new CD and eat pizza on a Friday night.
Speaker:And again, that doesn't feel like support.
Speaker:When I say it, but it was deeply healing to have those normal
Speaker:actions, normal conversations in the midst of loss and grief.
Speaker:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker:I can imagine that.
Speaker:That's very comforting.
Speaker:So you became the first blind student to receive a Master's of Divinity
Speaker:from Princeton Theological Seminary.
Speaker:Now, what obstacles did you encounter in that process and
Speaker:how did you, overcome them?
Speaker:'cause I know that had to be quite a fe or maybe a lot of learning.
Speaker:I would think it may be a learning opportunity for everyone right
Speaker:around too, since it was new.
Speaker:Everyone involved.
Speaker:So all that also goes.
Speaker:Back to how did I move forward?
Speaker:Again, it was their support.
Speaker:As I was accepted, they told me I was accepted, but then also said, since
Speaker:you are the first blind person, we don't know what resources you need.
Speaker:So again, just like the support of my friends and brother and parents,
Speaker:the gift of their support was it forced me to advocate for myself.
Speaker:So specifically what I mean by that is it forced me to learn confidence
Speaker:and how to clearly communicate.
Speaker:So I had to say, okay, so what I need is double time on test, because since
Speaker:I use a screen reader on my computer, it takes me longer to complete test.
Speaker:I'm not asking for double time so I can do better on the test.
Speaker:I'm asking for double time.
Speaker:'cause physically it takes that much longer.
Speaker:So that's what I mean by I had to become a place of confidence in
Speaker:myself to say, what are my needs?
Speaker:Figure out what my needs were, and then had the courage and confidence
Speaker:to advocate for myself and then trust them to meet the needs.
Speaker:So you're exactly right, it was.
Speaker:A win-win on both situations because we were both learning with
Speaker:each other through the process.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:And I know, like even in my day-to-day work as a school psychologist,
Speaker:I do a lot with that, with like accommodations and supports.
Speaker:And I always tell people, you, you might not realize it, it may look
Speaker:different from one class to the another.
Speaker:One semester what you may need in one.
Speaker:Set you may not need in another class, it is.
Speaker:So it's definitely, I think too, having that flexibility and like you said,
Speaker:really being able to advocate for yourself that, hey, in this situation I may need
Speaker:this to look a little different or, a little bit more support, or I may not
Speaker:need it, in this area, or what have you.
Speaker:So yeah, I think that's definitely really insightful for people
Speaker:and I think people can take that into their everyday lives a lot.
Speaker:Thinking of resilience and human potential, you have a background
Speaker:in psychology and theology.
Speaker:How has that shaped how you view resilience and just human
Speaker:potential and what we're able and capable to do the things that we
Speaker:can't see we're capable of doing?
Speaker:So for.
Speaker:In my own lived experience.
Speaker:And then what I've learned from working with so many people is resilience is
Speaker:acknowledging and validating how we're feeling, the change, the loss, and
Speaker:then choosing to take one step forward.
Speaker:So I used to think resilience was just grin and bear it push through.
Speaker:Always think po.
Speaker:Don't always not think positive.
Speaker:Always look like you're thinking positive and just move forward
Speaker:and don't feel the pain.
Speaker:What I've learned is resilience is the opposite, is what I said earlier of
Speaker:validating the anger, the sadness, the grief, the loss, and then choosing to
Speaker:move forward, literally step by step, moment by moment, breath by breath.
Speaker:That's really good.
Speaker:That's really good.
Speaker:Do you think how people view that.
Speaker:When it comes to our potential and what we can do how directly tied
Speaker:would you say resilience is to our potential and what we kind of manifest?
Speaker:Again, in, in my own experience and whether they're working
Speaker:with others, we limit ourselves.
Speaker:We limit, we don't realize how resilient we are, and so we, we
Speaker:think, oh, I'm not resilient.
Speaker:Oh, my potential.
Speaker:There's not that greater.
Speaker:I could never get to that place yet when we apply resiliency,
Speaker:how I've experienced it.
Speaker:Our potential is so much greater and it's not potential oh, you
Speaker:can do anything and be anything.
Speaker:Clearly, I'm not gonna be a pilot.
Speaker:Understand.
Speaker:Clearly I'm not gonna be a truck driver,
Speaker:It is within the reality of our situation, what is, what I do
Speaker:mean by potential is our mindset and our emotional intelligence.
Speaker:That we have control over developing and growing day by day, minute by minute.
Speaker:Let's talk about your professional expertise and your work.
Speaker:So you have started an organization you've wrote.
Speaker:Books.
Speaker:So why don't you just tell us about what, what inspired you
Speaker:to start your organization?
Speaker:Tell us about your organization and your mission, and then what inspired you
Speaker:and what is premise behind your book?
Speaker:So the reason for the book and the reason for the organization are exactly the same.
Speaker:As I shared that, I received the support from my parents, from my brother friends,
Speaker:getting a, a Master's in Princeton.
Speaker:All of that was incredible support that empowered me to keep going
Speaker:and not to be overwhelmed by the anxiety and the depression.
Speaker:So my desire in creating the organization, writing the book was I wanted to
Speaker:be that support that I received.
Speaker:So through the organization of the speaking and the coaching, and through
Speaker:writing the book, I want to be that voice and that presence that empowered
Speaker:others as they navigate through change.
Speaker:So how do you do that in your organization?
Speaker:So we know, like you do speaking, coaching, what does that look like?
Speaker:As far as the direct services that you provide.
Speaker:So with the organization, I've trademarked experiencing grit and
Speaker:gratitude, and that's what the book is about and that's what I specifically do
Speaker:in the speaking, in the coaching is as people are navigating through change.
Speaker:can they apply their resource of grit and of gratitude again, so that change,
Speaker:they can navigate through, not be shut down by the change, by the fear, by
Speaker:just the magnitude of the adversity.
Speaker:So very specifically I address the problem of how do we navigate through
Speaker:change, and that's what the book focuses on, and also the speaking.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So harnessing courage is gonna center around to grit and gratitude and how
Speaker:to utilize those things to overcome adversity or unexpected circumstances
Speaker:and just navigating through life.
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So I use it the foundation is my own life story of how I navigated
Speaker:through adjusting to blindness.
Speaker:And then I constantly turn around the reader and say,
Speaker:so whatever you are facing.
Speaker:What it doesn't, it's not blindness specific.
Speaker:Just whatever change in loss you're experiencing, you can
Speaker:apply these same resources.
Speaker:So again, what I found is even though our change as individuals are so vastly
Speaker:different, our emotional experience, the depression, the anxiety, the grief
Speaker:process, we all experience those range of emotions as we go through change.
Speaker:What's been one of just one successful?
Speaker:Or even one like transformation that really sticks out to you of a client or
Speaker:someone who have you worked with, who you saw apply the principles and really
Speaker:just saw how it transformed their outlook and like you said, their resilience
Speaker:or performance and what they, how they were able to navigate through it.
Speaker:The best example I can give is a person that I was working with, and
Speaker:this is for the majority of people, but this one particular person
Speaker:was just locked down in anxiety.
Speaker:The anxiety was so deep and the panic attacks were so real.
Speaker:How in the world.
Speaker:There was no way they could accomplish.
Speaker:They had a major injury that they may or not re recover from.
Speaker:How were they going to move forward?
Speaker:And as we literally took it breath by breath, moment by moment when she didn't
Speaker:trust herself or even believe in ourself, just being able to say, all right.
Speaker:Can you have the resiliency to trust me that I believe you can move forward,
Speaker:that you can, through mindfulness, through your support system,
Speaker:through your network, move forward.
Speaker:Again, she didn't believe herself, but believing in me and then
Speaker:slowly regaining trust in herself.
Speaker:That's where the grit came in of having that moment to moment.
Speaker:Again, resiliency of acknowledging the anxiety.
Speaker:Yes, I'm in deep panic.
Speaker:Yes, I'm in deep overwhelm and I choose to do what I have, what I can control today.
Speaker:And then the balance of that was the gratitude.
Speaker:Because she pushed back hard as I did too with my mentor.
Speaker:I have nothing to be grateful for.
Speaker:And what we worked through, and what I coached her on was gratitude
Speaker:is not just being positive.
Speaker:Gratitude is being grateful for what helps us navigate through the change.
Speaker:So she developed and learned.
Speaker:I'm grateful today that my anxiety was a little bit less
Speaker:than it was the day before.
Speaker:I'm grateful that today I was able to sleep an hour last night
Speaker:without waking up in panic.
Speaker:So again, just switching that framework to thinking gratitude is, we always
Speaker:have to be positive to the framework of gratitude is what I'm appreciative
Speaker:of for what helped me got get through the change, get through the day.
Speaker:And again, with her it was very small, minor changes, but at the end of our
Speaker:time, those small changes added up to her.
Speaker:Working through the anxiety, working through those panic attacks as
Speaker:she could move forward in life.
Speaker:Oh, good.
Speaker:Okay, thinking of like early accountability and when people are looking
Speaker:to shift or transition or make a pivot or pause, what are some of the first
Speaker:steps you recommend if someone feels like, Hey, I'm dealing with a setback.
Speaker:I'm dealing with a transition, major transition.
Speaker:What are some of the first steps you say, Hey, these are core things that
Speaker:we really need to do before we even think of trying to regain momentum.
Speaker:Like what are some core steps you say in that early stage of.
Speaker:Grounding, per se.
Speaker:The very first stage that I always recommend, and again, this is from my own
Speaker:experience, doing it not this way, and then doing it and realizing the healing.
Speaker:In that change, in that pivot, acknowledge and validate the pain you're in.
Speaker:And let let me give an, I'd love to give an example from my own life, and
Speaker:what I mean by this, I was denying the level of grief that I was experiencing
Speaker:because I thought if I acknowledge the grief, I'll never get out of the grief.
Speaker:So I just won't acknowledge it and just deny I'm grieving.
Speaker:But I'm just gonna try to move forward anyway and let's see what happens.
Speaker:That didn't work because I didn't do that first step of validating
Speaker:my feelings of the grief.
Speaker:It held me back from healing.
Speaker:So that's why I say the very first step is just validating what we're feeling that
Speaker:and know that those feelings are worthy.
Speaker:I felt, oh my gosh, if I'm grieving.
Speaker:I am not strong.
Speaker:If I'm grieving, I'm doing something wrong.
Speaker:If I'm grieving, I admit that I'm sad.
Speaker:All those are valid.
Speaker:The grieving, the sadness, the anger, the tears, whatever it might be.
Speaker:So that's the first step.
Speaker:If we validate how we're feeling, then that empowers us to actually
Speaker:move forward and do something about the change we're experiencing.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:So Laura, why don't you tell the audience, like where they can find more
Speaker:about you, where they can follow your journey learn more about your coaching
Speaker:business and or purchase your book.
Speaker:The best place is my website, laurabratton.com has all the resources
Speaker:on the speaking, the coaching, the book, everything is right there.
Speaker:Okay perfect.
Speaker:So we are definitely gonna have it linked down in the show notes so that
Speaker:the audience can get right there to you and learn more about you and see all
Speaker:the wonderful things that you have and you're manifesting out in the world.
Speaker:Laura, tell us, what are some words that you live by?
Speaker:Do you have a mantra that you use to guide yourself daily or
Speaker:one that you dislike right now?
Speaker:To remember that I am enough.
Speaker:So in the midst of change.
Speaker:Again, in the midst of living with transition, living in change, living in
Speaker:adversity, we forget that we're enough.
Speaker:We forget.
Speaker:We think, oh, I'll be enough when, fill in the blank.
Speaker:But just to rest and just breathe and know we're enough now.
Speaker:As we are right in this moment.
Speaker:That's powerful.
Speaker:And Laura, your story is very inspiring.
Speaker:You are very inspirational and you have a lot of great teachings that are
Speaker:very powerful and I've learned a lot.
Speaker:From you your website.
Speaker:I absolutely love it.
Speaker:I love the coaching that you do and I love your paradigm that you
Speaker:stand on with the work that you do.
Speaker:I wanna thank you so much for being a guest on our show.
Speaker:We appreciate you coming here and gracing us in the early
Speaker:Accountability podcast to the audience.
Speaker:Until next time.
