Struggles of a Blind Man

Oct. 14, 2016

Life changed a lot when Mike Sincic lost his sight.

Now he’s got a job, and he hopes to soon have his own apartment.

But he faces obstacles.

The challenges of everyday life are amplified for Mike Sincic. Things like transportation and the search for affordable housing — issues able-bodied people struggle with in northern Michigan — pose tougher challenges to Sincic because he’s blind.

The 34-year-old, who lost his sight two decades ago due to a brain tumor, has made a name for himself in northern Michigan as a popular local artist. He paints watercolors from memory or description; cards that feature reprints of his work are available at Horizon Books. Recently however, his life’s path has changed a bit. He took on a new job at Chemical Bank, and now he’s focused on finding a place to live, on his own, after a life spent living with his parents. Currently he commutes to Front Street in Traverse City from his home in Williamsburg, getting around with the help of a network of family and friends who give him rides.

The Express sat down with Sincic and talked to him about his life and the challenges he experiences living as a blind person in northern Michigan.

Northern Express: What was it like to discover you had a brain tumor at age 13?

Mike Sincic: It was pretty scary. I guess what made it real tough, or added a lot to it, was the surgeon had come in the room when my parents were not in the room and told me that he had looked at the scans, and I had three weeks to live, and not even God alone could help me, and that there was nothing that could be done. You know, he’s walking out of the room, and my parents are coming into the room, and my parents see me crying, and my dad grabs him, and he’s like, “What did you just tell him?”

Express: When did you discover you had a chance to survive?

Sincic: Well, my parents just kept reassuring me that they were doing research. And this surgeon in New York, everyone kept saying he was the one to do the surgery. And so, just because of the size of the tumor — it was larger than a man’s fist when we found out about it — he was on vacation at the time, and we reached him on his cell phone, and he said, “I’m on my way back to the office. I heard about your situation. I’ll call you in the morning.” And we got a phone call. I think it was 9 o’clock sharp. He said, “Come on out. I can do it.”

Express: That must have been a relief.

Sincic: I just felt so relieved. I was still scared having to go through a surgery and stuff like that.

When we got out there, he said that he could do the surgery, and he knew that he could remove the tumor, but the tumor had severed the optic nerve; it’s just, like, paper thin. So [there was] a very good chance that I could lose my vision.

Express: When you came out of that surgery, alive but blind, how much did your life change?

Sincic: I think I matured and grew up quicker, you know what I mean? Because, like, my class at school, they had all stopped talking to me. And at the time, people were saying, “Oh, you know, they don’t know how to react.” Well, I had gotten up twice during two different classes — this was at St. Francis, so it wasn’t as big of a class — and I said, “Hey, I’m the same Mike blind, you know? I might need help here and there, but I still like to have fun. I still like to do things.” And it didn’t do anything. Even a friend that I grew up playing hockey with and stuff like that, I’m still friends with his dad today, but …

Express: So it was difficult for you to relate with your peers after you lost your sight.

Sincic: Yeah. And for a long time, even until up to just a few years ago, I always was like, I don’t have any friends, you know? But it’s not that I didn’t have any friends. It was that all my friends were my parents’ age. I mean, they were adults, and I didn’t have any friends that were my age. So it took me a little while to realize that I do have friends — it’s just, they’re older than me. So it was kind of interesting. I mean, I had to grow up fairly quick. Now I’m older, and I’m working, and so that’s changed a lot. And that’s been a huge blessing that I got a job at Chemical Bank.

Express: Tell me about getting that job.

Sincic: After I graduated from high school, I had worked for a Junior A hockey team doing marketing and sales, and I did great with the sales and stuff like that. Since then I’ve volunteered at the disability network. So I’ve been looking for a job for quite some time. I worked with a job coach, and she was kind of like, “Oh, there’s not any jobs.” And before, any other time that there was openings at a bank, we were always told, “Don’t even bother. Your computer software is not going to be compatible.” And the president of Grand Traverse Industries, Steve Perdue, he’s a family friend. I knew his kids from playing hockey and stuff like that. So he also was helping to find me a job. He wanted to see me working again. And there was an opening at Chemical Bank, and the local president of Chemical Bank sits on the board of Grand Traverse Industries.

Express: And that worked out?

Sincic: They went above and beyond to make the computer software work. They had to reprogram some of their software and stuff like that, but they made it work, and since then they’ve now hired another blind lady.

Express: How is the job going?

Sincic: It’s awesome. I’ve been there four, five months. And it’s going great. I love it. It’s an incredible organization. They had just gotten an award for hiring people with disabilities from Grand Traverse Industries, and I’ve always just wanted to call the newspaper and be like, “This is John Doe. Put a story in the paper for Chemical Bank … .”

Express: “This is a big deal …”

Sincic: Yeah. This is an incredible organization. What they’ve done to make it work for us, for me and for the other lady, you know, it’s incredible. And they are hiring more people with different types of disabilities.

Express: So you live with your parents out in Williamsburg now. Have you always lived with them? Do you feel like this job puts you closer to getting your own place?

Sincic: Yeah. Definitely. I have, in the off season, especially in the winter, stayed at the Sleep Inn in Acme. They charge me like 25 bucks a night to stay there. So I’ll stay there four or five nights at a time, just to get away. It’s a little bit closer to town. I love swimming, and they have a really nice pool. I mean, I can live on my own. I’m pretty self-sufficient. I would love to live downtown.

Express: How has your search for a downtown apartment been going?

Sincic: It’s tough. It’s ridiculous. You know Justice Richard Bernstein [A Michigan Supreme Court Justice who is blind]? I got to meet him when he was here giving a talk, six months ago or a year ago. He gave me his phone number. He was saying that there needs to be more affordable housing. I’ve always thought that there should be a bigger push. The amount of building that’s going on, they’re building them, but it’s like, [so expensive], I don’t know who could live in them. Is there really a demand for highcost housing? Are there really that many people? It floors me that there are all of these places.

Express: So have had you had any leads finding a downtown rental?

Sincic: Not yet I haven’t. I’ve heard that they’re building next to J&S downtown. Someone said that those were low-income.

Express: They’ve talked about a nine-story building across from J&S, but that’s been halted because there was controversy over the height.

Sincic: It’s crazy, because originally they were also talking about building some low-income around the Park Place, and I found out those have been put on hold too.

Express: What’s it like in day-to-day life, being a blind person in Traverse City?

Sincic: I know for any person, there’s good and bad, but for a person with a disability, it’s tough, you know? Because some of these stores you go into, and I know some of the excuses are, “We don’t have as many employees,” or whatever, and I understand that. But it’s amazing when you go in and ask for assistance to purchase stuff, and some of the stores, it’s like, “Are you serious? You’re really asking for us to move from where we’re standing to help you purchase stuff in the store?” You know? It’s like they thought that their job was to just stand there and not have to move. “No. We’re not going to help you. You need to bring your caregiver in. We’re not your personal shopper.”

Express: Do you have good experiences?

Sincic: Yes. On the other side, there’s places like Toys R Us. I go in there, and they see my ride dropping me off, and a lot of times, if they’re not extremely busy, they grab a chair, and they’re like, “Have a seat. Do you want to go around the store with us or do you want us to grab some stuff for you?”

Express: How do you get around town?

Sincic: I know people plan their days out. They have to have their schedules. But [if you are blind] you have to plan your whole day out ahead of time — like getting a ride into town, getting to breakfast, getting a ride after breakfast, to work or wherever you’re going. It’s pretty complex. That’s the one tough thing for me — if I want to do something, sometimes I can’t just do it, you know? If I decide I want to go to a hockey game or whatever, I can’t just go and do it. I have to make calls the day before, maybe the same day, and if people are busy or they don’t feel like going out, then I’m out of luck.

Express: What about Bay Area Transportation Authority buses?

Sincic: I’ve actually had a couple of experiences with BATA. One of them — it’s been a couple of years now, but I was on one of the fixed-route buses, and the driver was telling me, “Hurry up.” I’d just gotten on the bus. And he was like, “Just pay when you get off.” And so he’s pulling up to the stop and he’s like, “Come on, come on, hurry, I’m going to be late getting to the transfer station.” So I’m trying to get my pass out of my wallet as I’m walking up toward the front. This was the one bus where, when you turn, there’s one extra step, and I’d forgotten about that, as I was trying to get my pass out of my wallet, and fell down, and he had the door open, and I fell down the other stairs and went on out to the sidewalk. I ended up that night having to go to the emergency room because of my feet and legs. I have since taken them, but especially for work and things like that I don’t, because it’s not always dependable.

Express: Do you ever date? Do you have a girlfriend? Sincic: No. And I would love to date and find someone. I guess I’m not — I guess I don’t pursue it. It’s tough. And I’ve hung on to this — I was with my friend at the Central girls golf team annual golf outing and fundraiser. And they had a silent auction for a limo ride and a gift card to Amical. And it was, like, at 30 bucks or something like that. So I’m like, that’d be cool to win that, you know? Take a girl out and not have to get ride? Pick her up myself and off to dinner. I ended up winning it, you know, for 50 bucks. I’ve hung on to that. This interview has been edited and condensed.