For alumnus Carlos Martinez, blindness doesn’t impair his drive to succeed
By Mimi Ko Cruz
Carlos Martinez lost his eyesight to retinal cancer when he was 3. But, his blindness doesn’t impair his drive to live life to the fullest.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, where he still resides, Martinez graduated summa cum laude from UCI in 2017 with his bachelor’s degree in psychology and social behavior. At commencement, he was recognized as a recipient of the Chancellor’s Award of Distinction, which is bestowed on UCI’s most outstanding graduates.
Today, the 27-year-old cancer survivor works on campus as the Student Success Programs Office coordinator for the department of Student Success Initiatives, helping freshmen and transfer students pursue leadership opportunities during the summer. During his free time, he is honing his acting skills, preparing to appear in “Point of Extinction,” an original musical play about survivors who are disabled after a massive volcano.
The play will take place Oct. 6 at the Robert Frost Auditorium at Culver City High School. It is set 100 years in the future and challenges conventional expectations about the capabilities of people who are blind, who struggle with movement, or who have difficulty understanding the complexities of social interactions.
Martinez and his fellow cast members in the play are members of the Theatre by the Blind, which is part of CRE Outreach, a nonprofit arts organization that provides multi-disciplinary performing arts participation and performance opportunities to underserved populations in Los Angeles.
“The disability community has taken huge strides toward empowering its members to explore theater as an avenue of expression,” Martinez says. “CRE Outreach has welcomed me into a group of highly motivated artists with disabilities from all walks of life. My fellow castmates have all helped me become more comfortable with physical movement both on and offstage and with practicing the use of body language as a form of nonverbal communication. These are visual aspects of daily living that are engrained in our brains from a young age, but they have taken me my entire life to develop. I am happy to have found a space where I can practice these acquired skills.”
As performers, he adds, “we embrace our disabilities and the learning opportunities that come with them. My hope is that our audience will enjoy the stories that we tell and connect with our passion for acting. Inclusive practices across disciplines bring communities together, enhancing everyone's perspective.”
Martinez says he chose the School of Social Ecology for his undergraduate degree because of its commitment to promoting community engagement, which also is the reason he joined Theatre by the Blind.
“As a person with a visual disability, positive public engagement is especially important to me, so I am glad I was able to graduate from a program that facilitates student learning through hands-on experiences,” he says, adding that while he was a student, he joined the university’s Disability Services Center in planning and monitoring the annual Disability Awareness Week activities as part of his field study project.
Of his former student, Paul K. Piff, assistant professor of psychological science, says: “Carlos is among the most intelligent, kind, compassionate and fun students I’ve had the pleasure of working with. One of the most striking characteristics about Carlos was how passionate he was about learning — absolutely determined to embrace every opportunity fully and learn as much as possible from it.”
Learning is life, Martinez says.
“Life has taught me to be grateful and proactive,” he says. “Each milestone I reach — college graduation, full-time employment, and so on — becomes a snapshot of the pathway I'm paving for future change makers within the disability community. Though there will be new winding twists and turns, there will also be crossroads with hard-earned progress along the way.”
Martinez plans to pursue a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology to conduct research on inclusive design practices.
“Over my lifetime, I have experienced improvements in screen reader technology and accessible game design, as well as general shifts toward more inclusive business models,” he says. “I want to investigate the factors that are contributing to these trends and to understand the nuances of creating an accessible experience for consumers.”
As a role model and inspiration to new students, Martinez offers sage advice: “Challenge yourself. You'll find that over the course of your stay at UCI, you will discover new strengths that you may never have known existed within you. Once you discover them, hone them. Own them. They are yours to keep and to build upon for a lifetime.”