Raising Blind Kids Who Thrive

Kristin Smedley
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Raising Blind Kids Who Thrive is the guide every parent deserves after their child is diagnosed blind or has low vision. In this inspiring 7-part series, TEDx speaker and bestselling author Kristin Smedley shares the hope, stories, and practical mindset that helped her raise two blind sons into thriving adults. If you're wondering, "Will my child be okay?"—you're in the right place. Start with Episode 1 and discover why your child's diagnosis is the beginning of an extraordinary story.

Episodes

  1. Aug 28

    Look What Became Possible

    Episode 7 of 7: We began this series with one frightened mom sitting on the floor after hearing, “Your son is blind.” So where did the story go from there? In our final conversation, I bring you into the present and share what became possible for Michael, Mitchell and our entire family—not because I discovered some secret formula for raising blind children, but because we learned to find better stories, embrace the tools of blindness, build community, set Extraordinary Expectations and eventually let our children take ownership of their own lives. This isn’t really an episode about my sons’ accomplishments. It’s about what their lives taught me about possibility. Because if you’re at the beginning of this journey—or somewhere in the messy middle—I want you to have something I desperately needed all those years ago: Evidence that another story is possible. And now, it’s your turn to begin creating yours. Yes, your child can thrive. And so can you. To keep surrounding yourself with stories, strategies and people who believe in what’s possible, visit ThrivingBlindAcademy.org and join our community.

  2. Aug 28

    Five Out of Five: Teaching Our Kids to Expect More

    Episode 6 of 7: The IEP goal said Mitchell would cross the street safely four out of five times. Mitchell—who had barely been paying attention to the meeting—sat straight up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What happens the fifth time? Am I getting hit by a car?” And suddenly the lesson I had spent years fighting to teach everyone around that table was coming from my son. In this episode, we talk about what happens when Extraordinary Expectations stop belonging to the parent and start belonging to the child. I’ll share how we gradually brought Michael and Mitchell into their own IEP meetings, transferred responsibility and advocacy to them, and allowed them to develop the skills they would eventually need to navigate college and the world independently. The goal was never for me to become the world’s greatest advocate for my sons. The goal was to raise two young men who eventually wouldn’t need me to be.

  3. Aug 28

    Set Extraordinary Expectations

    Episode 5 of 7: A kindergarten coat hook changed the way I parented my sons. When Michael’s school essentially told me that succeeding 70% of the time was good enough because he was blind, something clicked for me. Why should blindness lower the definition of success? In this episode, we get into one of the most important principles of our entire journey: Set Extraordinary Expectations. Not impossible expectations. Not perfection. Expectations based on your child’s potential rather than other people’s assumptions about blindness. I’ll share what this looked like in school, in IEP meetings, in advocacy and eventually in teaching my sons to take responsibility for their own goals. Because when we change what we expect, we often change what becomes possible.

  4. Aug 28

    You Can’t Become What You Can’t See

    Episode 4 of 7: I walked into my first blindness conference feeling like I was walking away from my dreams and straight into my nightmare. Then I started meeting people. Real people. Blind people living full, successful, interesting lives. Parents who were farther down the road than I was. People whose stories gave me something I desperately needed: a different picture of what might be possible for my sons. In this episode, we talk about why representation, connection and community matter so much—not only for blind and low vision children, but for their parents. “You can’t become what you can’t see” isn’t really about eyesight. It’s about what you can imagine because you’ve encountered someone who has already shown you it can be done. Sometimes hope begins with simply getting close enough to a different story. Get the 5 to Thrive weekly message. Sign up here.

  5. Aug 28

    Thriving Doesn’t Mean It Won’t Be Hard

    Episode 3 of 7: What does it really mean for a blind or low vision child to thrive? It doesn’t mean everything will be easy. It doesn’t mean your child will never struggle, fail, get frustrated or encounter people who underestimate them. And it certainly doesn’t mean you’ll never have another hard day as a parent. In this conversation, I pull back the curtain on the parts of our journey that didn’t fit neatly into a success story. Because confidence and resilience aren’t built by removing every obstacle from our children’s paths. They’re built as our kids learn that they can encounter hard things, develop strategies and keep moving forward. Thriving isn’t the absence of struggle. Sometimes, the struggle is where thriving begins. I walked into my first blindness conference feeling like I was walking away from my dreams and straight into my nightmare. Then I started meeting people. Real people. Blind people living full, successful, interesting lives. Parents who were farther down the road than I was. People whose stories gave me something I desperately needed: a different picture of what might be possible for my sons. In this episode, we talk about why representation, connection and community matter so much—not only for blind and low vision children, but for their parents. “You can’t become what you can’t see” isn’t really about eyesight. It’s about what you can imagine because you’ve encountered someone who has already shown you it can be done. Sometimes hope begins with simply getting close enough to a different story. Episode 4 — You Can’t Become What You Can’t See

  6. Aug 28

    Your Child Is More Than a Statistic

    Episode 2 of 7: The statistics about blindness can be terrifying: education, employment, independence. When you’re already worried about your child’s future, those numbers can start to feel like a prediction. They aren’t. In this episode, I share the story about blindness I unknowingly carried for nearly three decades—and how that story shaped the way I initially saw my own sons’ futures. Then we’ll look at what began to happen when I deliberately replaced the old stories with new ones. You’ll hear how Michael went from a little boy whose future I feared to a confident young man succeeding in school, college and beyond—and why even extraordinary preparation couldn’t completely protect him from other people’s limiting beliefs about blindness. The statistics are real. But they do not get to write your child’s story. We can create new stories. We can go beyond what is ordinarily expected. We can choose extraordinary.

  7. Aug 28

    Is My Blind Child Going to Be Okay?

    Episode 1 of 7: When a doctor looked at me and said, “Kristin, your son is blind,” every dream I had imagined for Michael’s future seemed to disappear in an instant. I didn’t know a single blind person. I didn’t know what was possible. And for more than three years, I desperately wished blindness would simply go away. Then one ordinary morning, my three-year-old son skipped into my bedroom and announced, “Mommy, isn’t this the best day ever?” That moment changed everything. In this first conversation, I’m taking you back to the beginning: the diagnosis, the fear, the mistakes I made, the birth of my second blind son, and the unexpected moments that finally helped me realize that my children didn’t need me to mourn the lives I had imagined for them. They needed me to help them build their own. If you’re wondering whether your blind or low vision child is going to be okay, start here. You don’t have to have all the answers today. For now, you can borrow some of my hope. Your child was made to THRIVE.

  8. Jul 23

    Trailer: Raising Blind Kids Who Thrive

    Hey Friend, Welcome. If your child has recently been diagnosed blind or has low vision, or if you have been on this journey for a bit, you've found the right place. In this short introduction, bestselling author, TEDx speaker, and mom of two thriving blind adult sons, Kristin Smedley, shares what you can expect from this seven-part limited series—and why thousands of families have discovered that a diagnosis is not the end of the story. If you've ever wondered, "Will my child be okay?" this podcast was created for you. Follow the podcast now so you'll be notified as soon as Episode 1 is released, and we'll begin this journey, together.

  • 8 Episodes

About

Raising Blind Kids Who Thrive is the guide every parent deserves after their child is diagnosed blind or has low vision. In this inspiring 7-part series, TEDx speaker and bestselling author Kristin Smedley shares the hope, stories, and practical mindset that helped her raise two blind sons into thriving adults. If you're wondering, "Will my child be okay?"—you're in the right place. Start with Episode 1 and discover why your child's diagnosis is the beginning of an extraordinary story.

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