LYNN — One day in April 2014, Dany Acosta woke up with blurry vision in his left eye. Before the end of the day, he fell ill and lost sight in both eyes. He was going through chronic kidney failure, and was given only three months to live.
“Three months later, I don’t die,” Acosta said.
From April to November of that year, he was hospitalized 13 times and had 19 surgeries.
Now, Acosta is being inducted into Salem State University’s Civil Engagement Hall of Fame, graduating from the school with his master’s of social work, and will be a commencement speaker on Friday.
Developing chronic kidney failure and losing his sight is not where Acosta’s story begins. When he was 2, his family moved to California from Mexico.
“By middle school, I was drinking heavily,” Acosta said.
When he was in high school, he struggled with substance abuse. During this time, his stepfather passed away and a few months later, his mother had a miscarriage. A year later, his then-girlfriend also had a miscarriage.
“That just led me down a downward spiral of a lot of challenges,” Acosta said.
After graduating high school he went on to attend Los Angeles City College, but eventually dropped out due to substance misuse.
“I went to live with gang members. At that time, my mom came to live in Lynn,” Acosta said. “Eventually, my friend got shot. I ended up being homeless.”
While he was homeless, he would tell himself that one day he would help people going through similar situations. He found support through religion, started going to church, and was able to find a home.
Then the kidney failure started. Due to the pain in his eyes, they had to be removed. Acosta remained in kidney failure for five-and-a-half years and was on dialysis the entire time.
“I remember in my experience, going through dialysis and all of these things, I saw the injustice that not only patients experience, but also immigrant patients with disabilities experienced, people that are blind experienced, and I told myself again, one day I’m going to be able to help families that have kids with disabilities,” Acosta said.
After he moved to Lynn, he was able to get prosthetic eyes. He got the same color as his mother’s.
At Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Acosta learned how to use technology.
“I was there for an independent-living program and then a tech program. Then I registered at North Shore Community College. I graduated there with a 3.94 GPA in 2018,” Acosta said.
After getting his associate’s degree, he went to Salem State for his bachelor’s of social work, and started his advocacy work.
“I was able to advocate for equitable transportation to the School of Social Work for all students with or without disabilities, because there wasn’t a shuttle on campus that went to that building,” Acosta said.
While at Salem State, he was also able to provide many free books to students.
“In order to get accessible books, you have to buy the book, show proof of purchase, give it to Disability Services, and then now you have this physical book that you can either return or do nothing with, because I can’t see,” Acosta said. “I would give all of those books that I bought throughout all of my time at Salem State, I gave them away.”
Before attending Salem State again for his master’s, he published a book.
“I published my book ‘Blindly Painting Words of Love: A Poet’s Adventure,’” Acosta said. “All of the proceeds that we’ve made up to this day from that book, both in English and Spanish, I’ve used to help families in the community that are immigrant families and parents of kids with disabilities.”
He has also donated the book to prison libraries, and helped families who have lost loved ones due to house fires in Lynn and COVID-19, he said. Acosta also works as a mentor at Centerboard in Lynn.
“I always talk about process, perseverance, and purpose. You’re going through a process right now, but persevere, it’s what connects all of us together because you do have a purpose in life,” Acosta said. “I know that’s really hard sometimes. I tell people I may be blind, but I have vision for life and sometimes it takes a blind person to help a sighted person be able to envision their purpose. I hope that more people can envision their purpose.”
