Mason Murphy — career counselor

Mason Murphy was born four months prematurely, leaving him with a permanent visual impairment and a severely low birth weight. Throughout his education, teachers did not know how to help a student with visual impairments. Some of Murphy’s college professors even claimed that when he brought up his visual impairment, it made him look lazy.

Despite the school system’s lack of assistance and understanding, Murphy graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and went on to a master’s program in California. Now, Murphy is a career counselor at Texas State and also works with students with disabilities.

“I teach them about how to advocate for themselves, how to seek out accommodations [and] how to disclose their disability,” Murphy said. “I teach them that when they do these things that they can not only be a success right now academically, but they can also be a success in their career down the road and in the future.”