Name: Connor Boss
Year: Junior
Major: Public Relations
‘Look twice before you cross the street’ is the general unwritten rule that most mothers teach their children. However, for some, it isn’t that easy.
“I rely heavily on the ever so effective pray-and-run method,” Connor Boss wrote in her blog.
Connor Boss is a junior majoring in public relations at Florida State University. She is involved in a variety of activities on campus and is currently in the process of applying to be an orientation leader and on the Panhellenic executive board.
Connor is also legally blind.
“I have Stargardt’s Disease, which affects the retina. It’s degenerative and it started to develop when I was eight,” Connor said. “It progressively gets worse and then hits a point where it stabilizes so, fortunately, I’ll never be completely blind.”
While “normal” vision is considered 20/20, Connor has a visual acuity of 20/400 in one eye and 20/600 in the other, classifying her as legally blind.
“I call my vision impairment ‘visibly invisible’ because I don’t wear glasses and I don’t have a cane, so people don’t realize I’m as visually impaired as I am when first meeting me,” Connor said. “A lot of times I don’t even tell people.”
Connor has never let her vision impairment stop her from chasing her dreams.
She has been competing in pageants since age 13 and has now competed in over 10 pageants. At age 18 she placed as fourth runner-up in Miss Florida USA.
“I think I initially started them (pageants) for fun, but then I saw that it was a way that I could use it as a platform and hopefully inspire people and promote inclusion,” Connor said when asked about her beginnings in pageantry.
Inspiring others continues to be a focus in Connor’s life. She created her own blog entitled ‘Blindgirlswag’, a self-coined term that Connor defines as a lifestyle choice.
“It’s carrying yourself with confidence, it’s not being afraid to get a little embarrassed, and it’s being able to embrace imperfection,” Connor wrote in her first blog entry.
Connor describes her blog as “inspirational with a comedic tone” focusing on day-to-day occurrences in the life of a blind college student.
She hopes to eventually compile the blog entries into a book incorporating her personal philosophies on life.
“As cliché as it may be, I genuinely think that you can do anything you set your mind to. I believe that it’s not about the adversity you face but about how you look at that adversity,” Connor said.
Connor uses the adversity in her life as motivation to help others. In the future, she hopes to become a motivational speaker and spokesperson advocating for the blind and visually impaired.
“I think that it (my condition) has definitely made me a stronger individual, more of a go-getter,” Connor said. “I think this is the opportunity to share my story and hopefully inspire people, and I don’t know if I would have done that otherwise.”