Megan Sinks, an employee at NIB associated nonprofit agency Beyond Vision, is NIB’s 2026 Peter J. Salmon Employee of the Year.
Nominees for the Peter J. Salmon Award are people who are blind and currently employed in a direct labor manufacturing or service operation in an NIB associated nonprofit agency. They are evaluated for the award based on job performance and positive activities in both the workplace and in their communities.
Megan works as a customer care specialist at the Great Lakes Naval Air Station AbilityOne Base Supply Center (BSC).
Megan works as a customer care specialist at the Great Lakes Naval Air Station AbilityOne Base Supply Center (BSC).
She grew up in Southern Illinois, went to college, and got married. But when she was 25, Megan experienced an autoimmune attack.
“I think it was just a flu, some kind of bug,” she recalled. “It wasn’t bad enough for me to go to the doctor but, soon after, my immune system went into overdrive and started attacking my own body.”
It was mostly her nerves that were impacted, Megan said.
“It was rough. At first, the main problem was the pain that it caused, because I had a lot of nerve damage everywhere, so my feet and hands, but it also attacked my optic nerves,” and that damage caused her visual impairment. “I went to doctors for years, like it was my job.”
Megan was unemployed for several years while she was sick, and she and her husband worked hard to find treatments. When she was finally well enough, Megan enrolled in a school for the blind in Chicago, where she learned braille, orientation, mobility, and “all the skills that I needed to thrive as an adult with visual impairment.”
Shortly after completing the program, Megan learned about the job opening at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center BSC with Beyond Vision.
“I snatched it right up,” she said, laughing. “There’s not a whole lot of opportunities in Southern Illinois. Both my parents worked at a coal mine when I grew up, and those don’t exist anymore. A lot of the jobs are no longer there, so it’s hard enough to find a job, let alone find a job where you need a little accessibility.”
Megan has worked at the BSC for nearly nine years now, starting out as a cashier and doing some receiving in the warehouse.
“I mostly just answered phones and checked people out, and I would do some really basic quotes for stock items,” she said, adding that, as she worked, she grew as both a person and as an employee. “My responsibilities have grown with me. I picked up more and more tasks over time and just became the primary person doing them. So, at this point, I set up and maintain all of our customer accounts, I handle all of our custom stamp quotes and orders, and I do most of the special order items.”
The BSC sells office and janitorial supplies, as well as other items that military members and government staff on base may need.
“Whenever they need things that we don’t stock, they’ll reach out, and I find ways that we can order it for them,” Megan said. “Our store manager, Susan Steele and I, also go and visit our customers to stay abreast of their evolving needs. It also, I think, is important to remind them of the good that they do.”
Recently, Megan was promoted to a position in the purchasing department, and has her own office. “I’m very excited about it. I’m happy to still be in the same location: I’ll be able to work for our purchasing department remotely from our Great Lakes location. And I’ll continue to do our advocacy here, which I really love. I’ve gotten involved with that.”
An NIB Advocate for Leadership and Employment, Megan has also taken courses with NSITE.
“Rick Webster and Vivian Friedas on the NIB Public Policy Team have been amazing. They’ve really helped me to learn how the public policy process works,” Megan said. “I was super excited recently when we were able to get the Veteran-Owned Small Business Amendment removed from the NDAA.”
Megan said being an Advocate has also helped build her confidence. “I’m still working on my public speaking and presentation skills, but I’ve grown a lot in that area.”
With NSITE, she is taking part in the Executive Leadership Development Program, and is preparing to complete her capstone project.
“I’ve really enjoyed the program,” Megan said. “I don’t have any experience in leadership. And so, I find it very helpful to be introduced to the concepts. It’s helped me to grow as a person, but I also feel like I’m doing something good and important.”