Every month we will feature a new portrait and story of all the remarkable people, families and researchers who are dedicated to bringing awareness and finding a cure for Usher syndrome.
Meet Eliza Corderman
STUDENT. ARTIST, USHER SYNDROME ADVOCATE
Knowing that over time my two siblings will become deaf and blind is a future that terrifies me to the core. While part of me wants to feel lucky that I do not possess this same reality, I cannot avoid a sense of guilt that while my older siblings must grapple with this frightening reality, my younger brother and I do not face this same future. Being so close to this disease and watching it affect the people that I love has incited a certain desperation within myself to try to change this fate. Art has always been a huge part of my life and it was an incredible feeling to discover that I could somehow use my art to make a difference in the lives of those afflicted by this life-altering disease. My mom is the founder of the Usher Syndrome society and she has always encouraged me to express my creativity, so when she embarked on her journey to find a cure, she provided me with a way that I could help. By creating designs that can be transformed into something not just beautiful, but also something positive and that have the potential to make a real difference, I feel like I am more than just a bystander to this disease that has already affected my family so drastically and will continue to do so. My art has been my power in the fight against Usher Syndrome. With every product sold, I can feel that we are one step closer to preventing my siblings’ worlds, and the worlds of so many others, from becoming dark and silent.
