Doctoral Student Hopes to Help Others Navigate Life Without Sight

University Relations

Sandra Bullins spends a lot of time in the Graduate Education Building with her service dog, Mr. Jim.

For the first few months after Sandra Bullins lost her eyesight at the age of 22, she stayed home in her pajamas, sunk into depression and despair.

Then her bother insisted she join him for a friend's party, even if he had to dress her himself. The outing was a transformative event for Bullins, as she realized she still was accepted by others and could adjust to the changes her blindness required.

"My life wasn't over. It was a new world and this was a new me — and I needed to find my place in it."

Sixteen years later, Bullins is a doctoral student in the vocational rehabilitation counseling program of the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions, continuing her interest in helping people with disabilities transition to the worlds of work, higher education and community engagement.

Bullins' doctoral candidacy exam is set for January. The dissertation topic she plans to propose in May will address the psychological aspects of adjustment to disability, particularly how women cope with the onset of visual impairment and the role their spirituality plays.

Bullins felt abandoned by God when she realized that her blindness was permanent, she said. Yet her faith has helped her rally her energies and focus on the positive aspects of her situation.

"Yes, I lost my sight, but because of that I've been given a lot of opportunities I wouldn't have had otherwise," she said. "I've earned three different degrees and met many wonderful people - both with and without sight. I've learned that I am a strong and rather determined individual. I've had the opportunity to challenge myself and meet those challenges head on.

"My research will explore the question: How well do other women cope, and, if they cope well, what reliance do they place on their spiritual foundation?"

Bullins' blindness was caused by complications of an unrelated surgery, she said. Kept in a drug-induced coma for 30 days, she awoke with no light perception, her optic nerves destroyed by a lack of oxygen.

"It was a long adjustment, getting used to my world of complete dark," she said. "Things I had done unconsciously I now had to think about — finding my way to the bathroom, making a sandwich, folding the bills in my wallet so I know what money I have."

Bullins attended massage therapy school in her hometown of Bristol, Tennessee. She worked for a year and a half and then married, at which point she moved and stopped doing massage. She worked for Volunteer Blind Industries in Johnson City, Tennessee, for the next eight years, sewing helmet covers for the U.S. Department of Defense. Volunteer Blind Industries is an agency of the National Industries for the Blind, which provides products and services for government agencies.

Bullins decided to go back to school at age 31, earning associate and bachelor's degrees in psychology from Northeast State Community College and East Tennessee State University. At East Tennessee, she helped revitalize Delta Alpha Pi, an honors society for students with disabilities.

Then she joined the National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision at Mississippi State University, a national leader for research on employment and independent living for people who are visually impaired. A Rehabilitation Services Administration grant from the U.S. Department of Education helped finance her studies.

Bullins earned a master's in rehabilitation counseling from Mississippi State in 2015. She entered the program intent on advocacy, but found that teaching young adults also called to her. Bullins worked with the school-to-work transition program of the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services and served a practicum with Student Support Services at Mississippi State.

"I knew that I wanted to make a difference," she said. "A lot of my professors had disabilities. I found myself learning more from their experiences and their stories than I did from the textbooks. I wondered if I could do that for other students."

Bullins began the doctoral program at the U of A in 2015. She works under Brent Thomas Williams, director of the Arkansas PROMISE project, a $35-million, five-year grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education to the U of A College of Education and Health Professions and the Arkansas Department of Education.

Bullins' research emphasis is on accessibility and how people with disabilities cope. She is president of the Rehabilitation Counseling Student Association on the U of A campus.

Keith Vire, a 2005 graduate of the U of A College of Education and Health Professions and a part-time professor, said he is impressed with Bullins' determination and the level of skill she has attained in dealing with her limitations.

"It's amazing how much she can do," he said. "It's one thing when you're born blind and that's all you know. It's another to lose your sight and have to learn to do everything in a new way.

"Sandra is a very capable, very smart person," Vire said. He noted that she and her husband are raising their grandson who has autism. "She's a caregiver and a doctoral student and a dedicated change-the-world kind of person."

Bullins has recently gone to work for Sources for Community Independent Living Services in Northwest Arkansas, heading outreach for the blind and visually impaired. Her low-vision support group, Focus on Ability, began meeting in August.

She also does outreach with Soldier On Service Dogs, a nonprofit organization that provides trained service dogs to veterans diagnosed with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries. She teaches service dog owners and trainers to give dog massages, a potent tool for relaxation, bonding and obedience, she said.

Bullins received her own service dog in 2012. Prior to that, she had used a cane to orient herself. The black lab has become a beloved companion, accompanying his mistress wherever she goes.

When Mr. Jim is on duty, it is best to leave him alone, Bullins reminds. He gets plenty of "dog time" once Bullins gets home.