The person to know for March is Miss Madison Flores, Austin Chapter Member and Board Member. Madison has been a member of NFBTX since August of 2023. She feels good being a part of the NFBTX because she loves that the organization raises the expectations of blind people. She had never experienced anything like the NFB, an organization that strives to improve the lives of blind people.
Madison has been blind since birth due to Optic Nerve Hypoplasia. She is the oldest of four brothers and one sister. She grew up in the small town of Hamilton, Texas. Madison was the only blind person in town, which meant she was the only blind person in school. Everyone saw her as different, which made her see herself as different, so she had a hard time living with her blindness. She didn’t like that she was different which made her embarrassed to use her cane. Madison was white cane user from the age of two or three, she remembers.
Madison graduated from Hamilton High School in 2020. Go Bulldogs! She was a Mentee with the Texas School of the Blind for two years, right after high school through the exit program. She attended the Louisiana Center for the Blind from October 2022 to July 2023. That was a life changing experience for her because it gave her a new outlook on her blindness. Madison also gained more independence, confidence, and deferred from her comfort zone.
She now lives in Austin Texas and is enrolled in Austin Community College, majoring in Government. She plans to transfer to the University of Texas-Austin where she will continue her education to become an attorney, advocating for the blind, as she has always known that she had the passion to help blind people.
Madison’s favorite food is Mexican. How can it not be? She loves shopping and hanging out with friends. She does not like the word no. The word does not stop her from living the life she wants. We close with her stating, “Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do anything you want to do!”
