For 36-year-old Casandra Xavier, a resident of Boston’s North End, connection isn’t just a convenience, it is a lifeline. As a disability advocate who navigates the world with both hearing and vision loss, Casandra serves on multiple executive boards across Massachusetts where her voice is vital to her community. But before discovering iCanConnect, she says the world felt much smaller and significantly darker.
“I was in the dark, disconnected from the world around me,” Casandra recalls. “There was nothing worse than feeling isolated while around so many people.”
Casandra first learned about iCanConnect (the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program) through a recommendation from a colleague while attending a local training center. She describes the program’s arrival in her life as a lighthouse during a dark storm, providing the guidance and tools she needed to navigate a world that had felt increasingly out of reach.
iCanConnect is a national program with local state partners that provides free distance communication equipment and free training to qualified individuals with significant combined hearing and vision loss.
After Casandra applied and was accepted into the program, she received a personalized assessment from her local iCanConnect representative to review her distance communication needs and goals. Through iCanConnect, Casandra received a braille device, computer, and a smartphone. She also received custom training that would help her maximize the potential use of her new technology. While the initial training was foundational, it has empowered her with the confidence to continue learning and navigating new technology independently.
Casandra uses her equipment daily for nearly every aspect of her life. She stays in constant contact with her family, friends, and fellow community members through text. Most importantly to her, the technology she received fuels her advocacy work. She uses her braille and computer equipment to draft and deliver speeches, amplifying the voices of the disability community. “My technology is like my air required to survive,” she says.
A passionate supporter of the program, Casandra frequently recommends iCanConnect to others. She believes that access to information and communication should be a fundamental right.
“Having iCanConnect in my life has been an amazing experience,” Casandra shares. “Access to information should never be restricted. Communication through technology should never be limited. Nobody deserves to be in a dark space.”
