When Calle Walton lost her sight for good 10 years ago, she began to change her dreams of acting, and focus on teaching instead.

Typically positive and optimistic, Walton felt beaten, fearing that her blindness had ended her hopes of acting professionally. After all, who’s going to hire a blind actress, she wondered? How many acting roles are there for blind people, anyway?

 “I had such high hopes and dreams before I went blind,” said Walton, who will be the grand marshal for the 20th Annual Walk For Sight , consisting of a 1-mile loop through downtown Concord on May 20 to raise awareness and money to assist blind people. “I didn’t want to lose that dream just because I could not see, but I thought being an actress was impossible.”

She had adapted her plan: finish her education in Canada, then teach, maybe back in her hometown of Peterborough. She’d follow her mother and teach visually impaired children. Nothing wrong with that.

Then came a crazy phone call when Walton was a student at the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind in Ontario. Filmmakers needed a blind girl for a role in a new series, “In the Dark,” on the CW Television Network.

Walton got the part of Chloe Riley, a young woman surrounded by dark areas of life, like alcoholism, emotionless sex and murder. She appeared in three of the four seasons before the show was canceled last year. She had gotten the break she needed, and she turned her cancer-caused blindness that took her sight at age 8 into a footnote during day-to-day living.

Basically, she can do anything you can do, perhaps better, which is why she was named grand marshal for next month’s walk. She has a message for visually impaired people who might have difficulty with the darkness in their lives.

“I really like to talk to people about being blind and spreading the news that if you cannot see, you can still do whatever anyone else does,” she said. “You just have to do it differently.”

Walton has evolved into an ambassador who’s passionate about sharing what she’s learned, and that the resources exist to turn an upside-down world right-side up again. 

For Walton, it’s been nearly 10 years since she awoke and discovered she was blind. Totally blind.

Her vision had been fading for years, but no one predicted that it would leave entirely, forever, at that particular time. As her mother, Tracey Bean, said, “We were monitoring her and had appointments and she was stable. So everyone was surprised she when woke up with no sight.”

Added Walton, “It took time to realize I was fully blind. It definitely hit me hard and I did not expect to lose it that fast. I went through periods where I thought, ‘How is my life going to be?’”

These days, Walton has other visions – clear, revealing and bold – that have nothing to do with her eyes, or the cancer that took her sight and will never return it. She’s nearing her teaching certificate at Trent University in Canada. She wants to teach blind and visually impaired children everything she knows, which is a lot.

She wants them to know her story. Where she came from.

Walton could see fine until the age of 8. Her vision then diminished and was gone by the time she attended Con-Val Regional High School.

Doctors searched for a cause for eight years, misdiagnosing it once, and only discovered that the tumor behind her eyes was cancerous.

Walton has been cancer free for six years. She’s a model for others, forever talking about adjustments in search of that often-taken-for-granted luxury called independence, then carrying that message to those who need to hear it.

She learned basic skills at the W. Ross Macdonald School in Ontario. Now, she’s comfortable with her guide dog, uses a scanner to identify spices and clothing, cooks dinner, learns the temperature of meat thanks to a talking thermometer, brushes her teeth, and climbs stairs without trouble. She’s excited for driverless cars to hit the market.

“The daily tasks I learned because I had to adapt,” Walton said. “I had to adapt really fast. I had such high hopes and dreams before I went blind, and I did not want to see others lose their dreams just because they could not see.”

Then came that innocent phone call to the Ontario school after Walton arrived. Do any students want to audition for a new TV show?

“What do you have to lose?” asked Walton’s mother, Tracey Bean. Walton mentioned the support that she received from Bean, saying it was of great value.

Still, Walton said she bombed, needing 10 takes to get the lines right. She thought she stumbled over her words.

“I could not get the lines right,” Walton said. “The others there were better. I did not think I had the stuff to get the part. A few weeks later at my grandparents’, we got a call. They wanted to hire me.”

Walton said her choppy presentation was just what the doctor ordered.

“I can recall that when I finally got the words right, they liked my acting, but they also liked that I did not give up and I kept getting the lines wrong and was still showing a passion for acting.”

Her story grew. TV and newspapers wanted Walton to speak about something that, at one time, was unspeakable. They wanted to know about Walton’s passion for acting and the disaster of losing it all before a twist of fate opened the door. 

“I really like to be able to talk to people about my situation,” Walton said, “You’re blind and you’re spreading the news that when you cannot see, you can still do whatever anyone is doing. I just have to do it differently and find different ways to do it.”

Her on-screen experience was a thrill, Walton said. She played Chloe Riley, who’s blinded in a car crash that killed her mother. People are murdered. Someone overdoses.

Walton loved it. She loved acting, ever since she played Goldilocks in kindergarten. That’s all she needed.

“That’s where I found my love for acting,” Walton said. “I loved being able to play different characters than myself and find different perspectives. I loved being in the center and being in that light, and something about it makes all of my blindness and struggle in life melt away because I love it so much.”

Her agent has feelers out, looking to add to a dream that at one time felt like a nightmare.

Walton is back and she knows what she wants. She’ll act or she’ll teach or she’ll do both. Her voice flew through the telephone with enthusiasm, volume up, ideas plentiful, hope fueling the conversation.

She’s in a good place. As good as any other time in her life.

“I learned everything I could to be more independent,” Walton said. “I feel like they’ve taught me everything I need to know to go out in the world and still be confident. I never thought it was possible to do things that others could do.”

More info

For more information and to sign up for the 20th annual Walk for Sight, go to https://futureinsight.org/walkforsight.

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