Blinded Veteran in a Waymo: ‘I Am Alone in a Car Again and it Brought a Tear to My Eye’
The obstacle is the path.
This saying has been a guiding principle for Teresa Galgano her entire life. It guided her through her time in the military during Operation Desert Storm, and as a junior ROTC teacher for high school students. It guided her when she ultimately retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army and now, it helps guide her as someone living with blindness.
When Teresa lost her central vision and became legally blind at age 60, she knew she would have the strength to live and thrive as someone with sight loss. For her, blindness is the obstacle; but it is also the path.
“If I was going to be blind, I would embrace that blindness,” she said. “I would use that as a focus for the rest of my life.”
The day after she was declared legally blind, Teresa became a member of the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA), an organization of blinded veterans serving as ambassadors and mentors for all veterans and their families coping with sight loss. Shortly after joining BVA, she earned a master’s degree in mass communication to help veteran organizations better communicate their messages to younger veterans.
Three Blinded Veterans Association members, Sheldon, Teresa, and Rob, stand wearing BVA polo shirts and khaki pants with their arms around each other, and their guide dogs at their feet.
“I am on the phone several times a week with veterans who have recently become blind and don’t know where to turn,” Teresa explained. “Talking to them about what the Blinded Veterans Association can offer gives them hope, and you can hear it in their voices.”
Though Teresa is making it her mission to assist blind veterans, she knows that she, too, needs support – particularly when it comes to mobility. However, finding accessible and reliable transportation options can be difficult.
“I started relying on rideshare options, and those have downsides,” Teresa said. “I would have a service dog with me, and the drivers would drive right by me and not pick me up because they saw the dog.”
Before she lost her sight, Teresa said she loved the feeling of freedom and independence that came with driving, but vision loss changed all of that.
“When I became blind, I was always in a car now with another person, and that's a different feeling,” Teresa emphasized. ”Sometimes you feel like you're a kid in the back seat with no say.”
For blinded veterans like Teresa, Waymo represents a new mobility option that can give them an unparalleled degree of autonomy.
Through a partnership with Waymo, BVA invited members like Teresa to experience its autonomous ride-hailing service, Waymo One, in Metro Phoenix. Waymo takes care of every aspect of driving so passengers can sit back and enjoy the ride.
Teresa and her guide dog standing on the sidewalk, opening the door to enter a Waymo autonomous vehicle
With input and guidance from its Waymo Accessibility Network, which is comprised of people with disabilities and their advocates, Waymo has added accessibility features to its app and every aspect of its passenger experience.
“When I was in the Waymo, I realized I am alone in a car again, and it brought a tear to my eye,” Teresa shared. “It was so exciting to have that feeling back.”
She said she enjoyed all of Waymo’s accessible features, which include screen-reader support, a setting to minimize walking time, adaptive app navigation with turn-by-turn walking directions, and the ability to activate purpose-built car sounds like the car horn or a melody to help her find the vehicle.
Teresa holds her iPhone up, open to the Waymo One app as her ride arrives at the pickup location. A button in the bottom left corner of the screen reads “Find my car.”
“You just get on the app and tell it what to do,” said Teresa. “You can pop the trunk open for your luggage using the app. That was awesome.”
Waymo also helps Teresa engage with her favorite hobby. Since her diagnosis, Teresa has taken up quilting, which helps her focus and have peace of mind. One of her favorite aspects of the hobby is browsing fabric shops for new patterns.
Teresa smiling and standing in front of a brick wall, holding up a large, colorful handmade quilt
“Because I don’t drive and I can’t drive, the Waymo is such an easy vehicle to get me to my favorite quilt shops,” she said.
Teresa is excited about how Waymo’s technology can bring a new mobility option to veterans and others experiencing vision loss. Together with BVA, she’s committed to bringing hope and inspiration to veterans.
“We’re a team,” she said. “We really are a team.”
