Don't Tell Me I Can't

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"Don’t Tell Me I Can’t"

Brittney Holland ’12 leans back in her chair, her lips curved in an impish grin. “Don’t tell me I can’t do something,” she says, “because I’ll do it just to prove you wrong.” Given her track record, you have to believe it.

The Blinn Teamer from Aledo, Texas, was born with bilateral coloboma, a condition that renders her blind in her right eye and severely curtails vision in her left. “It’s like I’m looking through a drinking straw,” she explains. “I can only see 2—3 feet ahead.”

But while the visual impairment may limit her sight, that’s the only thing it limits. Be it playing elementary school basketball, barrel racing, becoming an Aggie Orientation Leader, or going after a degree in Agricultural Communications and Journalism, Brittney Holland lives life with a no-holds-barred, full-speed-ahead zest that leaves others breathless.

Color Her “Country”

Born and raised in Aledo, a small town between Weatherford and Ft. Worth, Brittney describes herself as unapologetically country, a woman who loves riding, hunting, fishing, and “anything that involves getting dirty.” That being the case, it comes as no surprise when she tells you agriculture is near and dear to her heart. (Hence, the major in Agricultural Communications and Journalism.) She feels people don’t know enough about agriculture and its importance, and she plans to do something about that, maybe doing public relations for agricultural products or industries.

Brittney actually has a good head start on that kind of work, since she’s been doing public relations in one way or another for some time. As a member of FFA, she did a lot of public speaking in high school, and she frequently gives motivational talks at Cowboy churches all across Texas.

“Don’t let other people decide for you what your limitations are,” she tells her audiences. “You need to find that out for yourself.”

Another of her passions is increasing public awareness about visual impairment, including educating others on how visually impaired people do things. In Brittney’s case, that different way of doing things sometimes includes using a cane until she gets familiar with a place, a small telescope to help her see the board in class, and a screen reader on the computer so she can type and read books or documents. (Since the Internet confuses the reader, she has learned to do without it when surfing the web.) One way Brittney is hoping to boost understanding and awareness here in Aggieland is by working with Tracey Forman, a Program Coordinator in Disability Services, to restart the Aggie Association of Blind Students.

“The group is for visually impaired people and anyone who’s interested in helping or understanding them,” says Brittney. “We want everyone to feel welcome.”

Roll Out the Barrels!

Now, about that barrel racing ....

“I first got on a horse when I was 4 months old,” Brittney recalls with a smile, “and I never quite got off. I’ve been competing all my life.”

When she first started barrel racing, her parents would stand on opposite sides of the arena, calling out her cues to turn. That worked just fine ... until her horse learned to read the cues and started turning too soon, as in the moment Brittney’s parents shouted, “Now!” Okay, so much for Plan A. On to Plan B, which involved walkie-talkies and an earpiece, then, as technology improved, Bluetooth. But Brittney quit using all that in her junior year of high school, because she “got good with the horse” and knew what she was doing.

“I feel the horse,” she says, “and know when she’s going to turn.”

If you’re wondering how “good with the horse” she got, check this out: This past August, Brittney qualified for the Pro-Youth Rodeo Association finals in barrel racing and pole bending. Her future aspirations in the rodeo arena include joining the TAMU Rodeo Team next year.

A Cowgirl in Aggieland

Next year will mark another turning point for this unstoppable lady: At the end of the fall semester, she’ll go from Blinn Team member to full-time student at Texas A&M. (Blinn Team students are initially admitted to TAMU on a part-time basis, earning full admission in a number of ways: completing 45 Blinn and 15 A&M credit hours within a 2-year period, maintaining a 3.0 in both places; competing for earlier transfer admission when they meet transfer eligibility; or matriculating via the readmission process after their two-year program has concluded.)

“The Blinn Team has been good for me,” she reckons. “I enjoy the smaller classes for the basics, because those aren’t my strongest subjects, and it’s easier when you have 25 or 30 people in a class instead of 250.” But the few core classes she has taken at A&M impressed her. “The profs were really good.”

Official full-time Aggie or not, it would be safe to say she already bleeds maroon. “A&M is one of the few colleges to remember where we came from, our traditions and history,” she points out. “Not only is this a well-recognized institution, it’s like a family. I realized I was already part of it,” she continues, “when I went to the Ft. Worth livestock show. I said, ‘Howdy!’ to everyone. I wound up having to explain that tradition to my parents.”

Furthermore, if there’s no quit in Aggies—and we all know there isn’t—then Brittney Holland is all Aggie, all the way. If you ask her why she exuberantly takes on challenge after challenge or works to serve others by motivating and educating them, she’ll tell you, “I want to be able to say I live my life to the fullest.”
Based on the evidence, Brittney Holland is well on her way to doing just that!

For more information on the Blinn Team Program, visit http://blinnteam.tamu.edu/.

For information on the Aggie Association of Blind Students, visit the group’s Facebook page.

If you would like to find out the role Disability Services plays in assisting Aggies with disabilities, go to the department’s website at http://disability.tamu.edu/.

Contributed by:
Kathy DiSanto, Communications Specialist
Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs

About the college:
With an enrollment of almost 6,700 students in 14 academic departments, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate degrees and has a faculty of nearly 400 members, including two Nobel laureates. Research programs include food sustainability and safety, human and animal health, genetics, renewable natural resources and bioenergy. Mark Hussey is Vice Chancellor and Dean.