Alexander, Rebecca

Rebecca Alexander, a psychotherapist, spin instructor, volunteer, and athlete who is almost completely blind, with significantly deteriorated hearing, shares the physical, psychological, and philosophical obstacles she faces and reflects on how her disabilities have led to her deep appreciation for the things she still has and life.

Thirty-four-year-old Rebecca Alexander is a psychotherapist, a spin instructor, a volunteer, and an athlete. She is also almost completely blind, with significantly deteriorated hearing. When Rebecca was twelve, her parents were told that she would be completely blind before she turned thirty. At eighteen, she fell through a window, shattering her body. In college, she found out that due to a rare genetic disorder-Usher Syndrome Type III-she was losing her hearing as well. Since then, she has earned two Master's degrees from Columbia University, ridden a six-hundred-mile bike race, hiked the Inca Trail, and established a thriving career-all while maintaining a vibrant social life. Rebecca makes the journey from a teenager who tried to hide her disabilities, to a woman who is able to face the world exactly as she is. Even though Rebecca inhabits a gradually darkening world, she refuses to let that stop her from living life with joy and enthusiasm.