I paused.
**"I spent twenty years learning how to live without sight. But I should never have had to spend those years living without the truth."**
Several people in the courtroom began crying.
I wiped my eyes.
Then continued.
"I don't want anyone to believe that my life during those years was meaningless."
I looked toward our children, who were not present in court but were waiting at home with family.
"I finished school. I built friendships. I married. I became a mother."
My voice grew stronger.
"Blindness didn't make me less of a person."
I took another breath.
"But what happened to me was still wrong."
The room remained silent.
"And nobody gets to excuse that wrong by pointing to the good things I managed to build afterward."
***
The proceedings continued over the following months.
My mother's foundation underwent a financial investigation.
Funds associated with my settlement trust were reviewed.
