-Joy Ross with Isabella and Georgianna

"I am happier without sight than when I could see."

Joy Ross is 36, lives just outside Portland, Oregon. She has been happily married for 12 years to her husband George and the mother of two beautiful daughters, Isabella (10) and Georgianna (7). Joy has had juvenile arthritis (JA) since she was three years old. As a child, her disease was primarily expressed through uveitis, an inflammation of the eyes. Joy had her first cataract surgery at age 5, but as she grew up at a time when there were no treatments for JA and RA, her sight got worse as the years went on. When she was in grade 7, the JA spread to her joints.

"Growing up was a struggle," Joy says, "I was losing my sight and had to deal with obstacles like school and homework." Despite the challenges, Joy graduated from high school with a 4.0 GPA, in the top 10 percent. She went on to college, where she met her husband on a blind date (this still makes her laugh). She has been on "methotrexate, DMARDs, Biologics, but developed staph infections. After three years of chronic staph infections and being hospitalized eight times, I went off the meds." She has been in remission since. "I feel really good, really healthy," Joy says, "I feel the best I've felt in five years." Should her disease flare again, she intends to go back on medication.

One consequence of the JA was a steady worsening of her sight. She tells the story of going to Disneyland with her family five years ago. "It was like there was a dark curtain in front of my eyes." She found out one week later that her retina was detaching and she became completely blind. "Disneyland is my last memory of seeing my girls. I saw them with princesses, it was magical." Joy says. "We went back to Disney this past Christmas and it was so hard not seeing them."

After losing her sight, Joy got a guide dog, named Antonia. "I hated the cane," she says, "I used to run and be a fast walker, hated feeling like a child. I went to get a guide dog, she is my freedom." Joy has also found a community of blind mothers, with whom she talks about the challenges of parenting with a visual impairment. "My biggest challenge is that I want them to feel that I know them and that's hard when I can't for instance see their artwork." Still, she focuses on the positive, saying "it's hard at times, but that's very small. The big picture is the love."

Joy is an Attitude

Joy disagrees with those who call her brave. "I don't see it as brave. This is my life. Am I going to sit and mope? Joy is an attitude and a choice, I can let the JA and my blindness define me or use it positively." Her husband travels frequently and she often finds herself in the situation of "needing to prove I can take care of my children, to break down stereotypes about the blind." She finds questions about how she perceives the world "hilarious. I see with my hands, ears and nose. I love to go shopping, I love fashion. I touch and feel the clothes and I can see it again. It comes to life when my hands feel it." She explains about "losing her reflection," but says that when she tries on clothes in a store, she asks where the mirror is. "Once I touch the mirror, I see myself. I remember what my reflection used to look like."