Tammy Davis

My journey into education for the visually impaired began unexpectedly 25 years ago. I was running a hair salon when my father married a lady who had a son who was blind. I went to see him perform as Daddy Warbucks in the Annie play, and I was just really amazed by what these kids were doing. That experience changed my life. I started at the Maryland School for the Blind as a substitute, filling in as needed while keeping my hairdressing job full-time. Eventually, they asked me to come on full-time in the residential department, where I worked as a residential staff person for about a year. I then moved into the classroom as a paraeducator for a few years, and was even a teacher for a year before returning to the paraeducator role. After that, I was asked to interview for the supervisor position in the residential department, which is where I am now. Throughout my career, I've always worked with behavior kids and blind kids with autism, and in the past couple years, I've also worked with students who have CHARGE syndrome. As a residential supervisor, I oversee half of a building that contains four dorms, working with six staff members this year. We focus on teaching life skills and ADL skills rather than academics, because many of our students will end up in group homes when they graduate. If they can feed themselves, clean themselves, and use the bathroom on their own, they're more likely to get a better placement. That's really important to me. I've seen incredible progress, like helping a 17-year-old student who was in diapers transition to underwear - something his previous school said couldn't be done. My director once told us that every moment is a teachable moment, and I've never forgotten that. I hold a bachelor's degree in business administration, which I originally pursued to help my husband with his construction company, but I ended up following this path instead, and I wouldn't change it for anything.