Insight into life

When she was 12, Patty Eisenhandler woke up one morning blind.

"I thought God hated me and he struck me blind in the middle of the night," she told the Page Avenue School students who listened intently to her story. "I could read the night before. It was a lot like a nightmare."

Eisenhandler, the sister of Page Avenue School special education teacher Kathy Terk, explained to the students during a visit in late December that she wasn't sharing her story to make them feel sorry for her, but because they were the things that happened in her life.

With her guide dog Eliza at her feet, Eisenhandler explained that she had the measles when she was six years old and had some trouble with her vision before she woke up without sight.

Even though she has lost her ability to see, Eisenhandler told students she has had a full life. At first, she first thought becoming blind might end her lifelong dream of becoming a mother. However, she had three sons, but sadly two died in their teens—one was hit by a car and the other died as a result of a brain tumor.

Eisenhandler attended Russell Sage College and later worked as a special education teacher. She said her students often thought she could see because her hearing and other senses were so good. She currently works for the New York State Education Department.

During her visit, Eisenhandler showed students how she reads in Braille, and typed their names in Braille for them.

To give students a sense of some of the tools she uses on a daily basis to help make up for her loss of sight, Eisenhandler showed students her talking clock and various tools that she uses around the house. She passed around some Braille books and demonstrated how Eliza can lead her out of a room or back to her seat with simple commands.

Students asked her several questions about her dog and her job.

Before she left, Eisenhandler's only request was that if the students she had met today see her trying to find her way in Cohoes, they offer her some guidance.

"If you see me wandering," Eisenhandler said, "tell me your name and when we met and ask me if I need a hand."