Adam Roberge
Adam Roberge is a blind 28-year-old living independently in East Boston. He has Norrie Syndrome, which is a genetic syndrome that causes blindness for all and hearing loss for some. He was born in Amesbury, MA and moved to East Kingston, NH when he was two. He came back to Massachusetts in 2010 to attend Perkins School for the Blind. After he graduated, he went to the Threshold Program at Lesley University. Upon completion, he went to work for Herb Chambers Mercedes of Boston as a Research Specialist. Adam is a passionate person who got involved with raising money for National Braille Press starting in the 4th grade. Over the course of seven years, he raised over $40,000 for them. This passion gave him the chance to speak in public and meet many interesting people. It also gave him an opportunity to be on the Making a Difference segment of NBC Nightly news for the last Harry Potter book that was published in print and braille on the same day. He was a Hero Among Us for the Celtics. His love of trying new things got him into Waypoint Adventure, which provides athletic opportunities for disabled people. He is also part of Cambridge Common Voices, which is a neuro-diverse choral group with people from Harvard, Lesley and Perkins School for the Blind. Sadly, he lost this job during Covid and is still actively looking for a new opportunity.
Full Interview:
Interview Transcription:
SPEAKERS
Molly Joyce, Adam Roberge
Molly Joyce 00:00
So the first question is, what is access for you?
Adam Roberge 00:03
Being able to do things independently and be able to have all the resources, I need to have a social and independent life and all the transportation I need to get around, because I can't see.
Molly Joyce 00:20
What does care for you?
Adam Roberge 00:21
Care means is that I get to do things every day and make plans and be able to live on my own with the help from my parents and friends. With being supported, to get make sure I have transportation and went and be able to have enough food in my apartment to while I have my everyday job too
Molly Joyce 00:56
What is control for you?
Adam Roberge 00:58
Control is being able to manage my schedule and be able to decide how I'm going to get places and how long it's going to take me to get there and how I expect and being able to decide what I want to do and try to plan ahead for what things I should do and not if he I should work on this. Maybe, write down a checklist, even though I have a great memory. I remember a lot of details anyway.
Molly Joyce 01:39
What is weakness for you?
Adam Roberge 01:43
Weakness for me is sometimes being able to follow my Braille contractions. I am not able to drive or see. Sometimes using the telephone or being able to do what I actually want to do for work is do all the car brands and do research, and as my boss says, I wasn't ready to talk to customers on the phone yet. And so I just do research for right now. And another thing is speaking up and being hesitant about asking people if I want to do something big with them, like something that's gonna come up in the next six months for me is I'll be looking for a new roommate because I'm moving to a new place and my current roommate won't be living with me anymore because he's working for somebody else, and but I'm fortunate that fashola has the matchmaker. But there's only so many people I'm comfortable asking to so, just nervous about talking about the price of rent, too. And I know that other people are looking at other stuff, too.
Molly Joyce 03:13
What is strength for you?
Adam Roberge 03:15
Remembering different details and remembering what cars people drive because I actually, believe it or not, even though I never could see, I've always been into cars. I remember dates. And I always remember what cars people drive. And I'm a lot about cars like, even the sounds they make when you start them up. And a lot, I remember, a lot of details about things I've done and other people have done like, where I've stayed and where I've went to eat and other stuff within most of my wife, which is 26 and a half years now. But except for when I was little. So I definitely remember a lot and especially when it comes to details about people and the cars they drive, I can remember what car you drove today in like 2045 or something.
Molly Joyce 04:21
What is cure for you?
Adam Roberge 04:23
Care?
Molly Joyce 04:24
Cure.
Adam Roberge 04:25
Cure is being able to...be able to go more places on my own. I like to be able to drive in, if they made driverless cars accessible, that will be great because I'll be able to have one and go more places without having to rely on the source of rideshare and paratransit, during the week, while I have to go to work and do social activities and I wish I could See, but that won't happen because my retinas are gone in my right eye and my left eye actually had to be removed and fitted to a prosthetic when I was little. But definitely I'd like to be able to work more and go to all the different dealers in my organization and communicate with the managers. But I wish they had driverless cars. That way, I'm not waiting as long as two hours just to get a ride somewhere. Or, if I could have somebody give me a ride, that's in my house, that'll be great, too. But that doesn't work during the week. I mainly had to rely on paratransit, and ride share. And that'll add up even as expensive as it is. And being able to afford everything I want on my own would be great. Being able to work more hours and make more money would also be cure.
Molly Joyce 06:15
What is interdependence for you?
Adam Roberge 06:19
Being able to have a screen reader and use my computer, making sure my computer works properly and being able to have a backup plan for when I use stuff, making sure I get assistance around places that I don't know very well. Unless, I know the mobility well, and being able to schedule things ahead of time rather than just dropping in because something's you can't just drop in for that are important, like, say meeting with your boss, you should schedule that not just drop in. And then being able to make sure I have money I need with my bank card and enough cash in my wallet for outings by getting the assistance I need with that.
Molly Joyce 07:27
What is assumption for you?
Adam Roberge 07:31
Assuming that I can do more things, and just guessing what things might be like, like, I've wanted to apply for a higher position a couple years back, and I thought I could do it and where that field is, but I definitely think I probably could, since I'm getting to a point anyway at work is connecting with other dealerships to see about making blogs and quizzes for their sales teams about their cars since the company I work for I work for one of 60 dealers of a big organization of car dealers in the Boston area that has 35 different brands. And I know how I thought of how I can do it like in a year because starting with American cars, Japanese cars, Korean cars, and the European cars which are mainly from Britain, Italy, Germany, and Sweden is starting from the lower end vehicles to the highest luxury vehicles.
Molly Joyce 08:44
And last one, what is difference for you?
Adam Roberge 08:47
Difference for me be would be, I act as I been able to prove people I can do feeds without help and being able to work in a car dealer without having vision, which I've already been doing for three and a half years. And I actually didn't have a summer job when I first came out of threshold for my first year so I had to write to local car dealers in my area for an internship and I said sent a letter saying I was open to an internship or job shadowing. That way they could brainstorm and I had three interviews in one week. Two of which were At Herb Chambers Dealers and the first one was at the Honda dealership here in Cambridge. Then in also don't text for different areas and women different areas because I ...at the end of the year I will have lived in four different parts of the Boston area in 10 years and five different places once I moved into my new place, which are two places in Cambridge, one in Somerville, one in Melrose and now one in East Boston and I will have gotten him to my fair department once next year starts up for chorus starting in September.