Gloria Carter
62, Harlem

    I have not been blind my whole life. I was a food service employee at New York University Hospital. I started having eye trouble in 1991. I worked 38 years and five months before I retired in 1995. My vision left me exactly when my father died in 1997. I have a dear friend from work who does a lot for me. She writes checks for me, thank God for that. You never know who’s in your corner until something happens to you. You never know who’s your friend until you get in trouble.
    I remember one day I was downstairs, and my arthritis was hurting me so bad, I figured it would take me about half an hour to get up those steps. Then my neighbor grabbed me from behind and tried to lift me, "Carter, How much you weigh?" he asked. I said: "None of your business! You know I never was skinny, so don’t even go there."