Jessie Rogers

Meet Jessie Rogers

Jessie Rogers does not let disability hamper her goals, but uses the knowledge and skills she has developed as a result to help others.  She was instrumental in developing a gallery tour specifically for the low-vision and blind community at the Reece Museum in the fall of 2017 for the traveling exhibit “A New Subjectivity: Figurative Painting After 2000,” and among the various career choices she is considering is providing technology training for those with disabilities.  The junior from Church Hill, Tennessee, is majoring in media and communication with a minor in creative writing.

Tell us a bit about your early life.

I was born visually impaired.  I do have some vision, but not enough to even be considered low-vision.  Luckily, I’ve always had a crazy-good support team and family who said, “What do we do to help this kid who can’t see?”  If there’s a way to do something, somebody is going to figure it out if I want to do it.  I had an aide through high school graduation.  The lady who was with me from the time I was 4 until I was 12 could figure out how to do anything on this earth.  She’s incredible.  The same with my mom and dad.  If I want to do it, they’re going to figure out a way to let me.  

I’m an only child, and went to public school all the way through high school.  I graduated from Volunteer High School, and I'm very proud of having graduated from public school.  Despite the visual impairment, I had a pretty normal childhood.

Your minor is creative writing.  Talk about your passion for writing and things that you’ve published.

Creative writing is the reason I wanted to be here in the first place.  I’ve been writing all my life.  It’s what I want to do.  I have stories from when I was in kindergarten.  They’re not finished, they don’t make a lot of sense, but they exist!  Mostly I do science fiction/fantasy stuff.  I’ve done some poems.  I’ve done a few songs, but not many lately.

The only book I have out right now is called “Fairy Sight.”  It’s on Amazon, in both print and Kindle editions.  I’m working on a couple of other things and hope to have something ready by the end of the summer.  I finished one called “Escape,” but it needs a rewrite badly, and that’s what I’m doing this summer.  I’m buying a swing and setting it in my yard, and I have different devices I can write on, so I can go out there, sit under the trees, and just do my thing.  That seems to be when I get my best work done.

What are your career plans and other goals for the future?

I don’t really know right now.  I’m exploring options, especially since I just changed my major.  In theory, I’d like to be a full-time writer, but I don’t know if that’s going to be a reality or not.  I’d like to look at working for Apple; I have a friend in Utah who works for Apple as a sales rep, but he also teaches accessibility.  I’m thinking about being a technology trainer for the state who goes around and teaches people how to use the technology available, because I make it my business to know how it works anyway.  There’s a whole big field open with the advertising and public relations stuff that I’m doing now – there are creative writing jobs for TV and radio, editing jobs, copywriting jobs.  I have a few ideas, but no solid plans yet.

I’m not even close yet, but I’d like to get married at some point and have kids, and a micro Pomeranian, because those dogs are adorable.  I definitely want to be at a point where I’m living on my own, and I kind of do that here.  I want to be at that point where I can say, “Okay, I can go do whatever, whenever.”  In my hometown, there’s not much in the way of accessibility and there’s not really a blind community, but here in Johnson City, there’s Uber and public transportation, a lot of sidewalks so I can walk places, and different things like that.  It’s a lot easier to get around and just do life.  And I still want to continue publishing books, because I’m still going to write.  Regardless of what else I do, I’m going to publish.

What are some of the campus activities with which you are involved?

I’m involved with a campus ministry – Christian Student Fellowship, also known as “Campus House.”  We’re the ones who hand out the spoons at regular orientation events, where there are booths set up for campus organizations.  Everybody else gives out fliers, so we try to do something different.  We actually have our own ice cream social at the beginning of the fall semester.  We do a Pancake Social in January, and there are forks for that.  And last year, for the Welcome Back, we gave out chopsticks – we wrap them in paper with our logo on it, and I get so much glue all over me doing those things!  Apparently, we’re really obsessed with utensils.

What is a “fun fact” about you?

This one’s pretty obvious for people who know me, but I love learning about other cultures.  It’s really cool, because Campus House has a focus on international outreach.  One of my best friends is originally from Greece.  He lives in Boston and I live here, so we don’t get to see each other a lot, but I tell everybody I don’t really think of him as being an international friend, because he’s been here forever and has no accent.  I didn’t even know he didn’t speak English at first when he came to this country.  Another one of my best friends is from Nigeria.  I absolutely love learning about other cultures and hearing my friends talk about their cultures, languages and things like that. It’s fascinating.