Millennium Magazine_2ndEd

130 MILLENNIUM-SECOND EDITION H aving grown up with visual impairments, Olivia Ann Ferrante has never allowed her disability to deter her from accomplishing her goals in life. Driven to aid those who struggle with blindness and other visual illnesses, she sought a career path that would contribute to the success of disabled people. After earning a BA from Regis College in 1970, she enrolled in a master’s program for teaching blind students at the Perkins School for the Blind. Thereafter, she received an MEd from Boston College and completed postgraduate coursework at Boston College, Middlebury College and Lesley University. Ms. Ferrante later served as chairman of the Braille department with the National Braille Press from 1971 to 1974 and a traveling teacher of the visually impaired at more than 50 schools, including Revere High School, between 1974 and 1992. In her position, she worked one-on- one with students in typing, Braille, handwriting and a variety of other subjects. A certified history teacher and teacher of the blind, she has remained a consultant for the Revere Parent Teacher Association since 1984 and a member of the Steven J. Rich Scholarship Committee since 1993. Throughout her career, Ms. Ferrante has submitted several proposals to her local OLIVIA ANN FERRANTE CONSULTANT, TEACHER OF THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED (RETIRED) Revere High School Revere, MA government, including ones that called for the installation of brighter street lamps, audio pedestrian signals in front of City Hall, a police sub-station, and accessibility for individuals with special needs at the local movie theater, which was the first of its kind in Massachusetts. Since the beginning of her career, she sought to prove to her students that they shouldn’t be held back by their disabilities, instilling in them the courage to achieve anything to which they set their mind. Attributing her success to the support and encouragement of her parents, as well as her Catholic faith, Ms. Ferrante enjoys spending her spare time volunteering for nonprofit charities and organizations, such as the Animal Umbrella cat shelter, the Revere Commission on Disabilities, the Braille Institute of America, the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, and The Catholic League.