Showbiz Personality
~ Liz Conejo ~

by Brandi Bard




First, let us tell you about this beautiful lady named Liz Conejo who lost her sight in both eyes at age seventeen due to congenital glaucoma, and her big blond friend Nitro, a large yellow Labrador retriever Guide Dog. Liz was born in Costa Rica, in Central America of Spanish origin. Her father Carlos had run a small hotel in Costa Rica, a country north of Panama and south of Nicaragua. Unlike other Central American countries, Costa Rica has a non-threatening political atmosphere. Never the less, her father decided to come to the United States in 1962 to get better opportunities for his family. Her father immigrated first in February and six months later Liz, her mother, older brother, and younger sister came to the United States too.

Liz was the self-proclaimed nonconformist of this lively, unique family. She said, "I didn't buy into the idea of merely marrying and producing (a litter of) grandchildren for my parents." However the first culture shock for my brother, and for me was that about a month after our arrival in the United States when we first entered school, we realized that we were the only Spanish-speaking kids in the school. Liz said "I was eight and started taking English classes for the foreign-born with my parents at night, and by the time I was in the fourth grade I was speaking fluent English." Her father got his citizenship in 1967 and after much quizzing of each other on the test questions, Liz and her mother got their citizenship also.

The Fourth of July is very important to this naturalized citizen of the United States because not only is it the Independence Day of this country, but also the anniversary of the day Liz got Nitro. Nitro was the biggest puppy of his litter, but he has come much farther in that he is now 90-something pounds and 25 inches tall at his shoulders. Liz says, "He saves a corner of the bed for me and lets me sleep with him."

"I had a normal childhood doing kid stuff even though I had to have surgeries from time to time when my eye drops did not work, and I had to regulate the pressure that resulted from glaucoma. When I was a senior in high school, the glaucoma went out of control and I became blind. Though I was pretty good at everything in school (other than math), I still fought the Braille studies that I was being given by a very caring teacher in high school because I didn't want to consider myself as being blind." Liz now has a Braille writer, talking calculator, computer with speech synthesizer, and an access program for Word Perfect. Her Braille teacher from high school helped her make a Braille book with punctuation, abbreviations, numbers, and contractions, etc. "You can say this wonderful teacher was definitely very patient with me, because during that senior year I was very angry that I could not see or read and I felt I was illiterate; but with the teacher's help I learned Braille."

Liz always enjoyed school plays etc., so about four years ago she took an acting class with PATH (Professional Acting Theater for the Handicapped) that was in Hollywood at that time, and now is in the LaCosta area where they teach acting to handicapped children.
Liz's aspirations now are to write and to produce as well as to continue doing voice over work for TV. She also wants to continue doing some occasional commercials like the ones she has done for Xerox reading machines and AT&T, along with Public Service Announcements, industrial videos, and occasional talk shows.

Liz, who lives in Los Angeles with Nitro, loves penning short stories and essays and also writing educational topics for TV. Nitro, like other good Guide Dogs, does not jump on her, creating havoc, and is trained to stop at all curbs and stairs, and to warn his mistress to go around unexpected obstacles. "He asks for nothing more than verbal praise and kisses on his great big ears from me. I love my boy, my tro-man."

Liz Conejo is the first blind field employee with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) where she is a Public Affairs specialist in times of disaster, coordinating information between the general public, the media, and FEMA. In January she will be taking computer classes at Glendale college due to the fundamental switch from Word Perfect to MS Word.

Note: My Handi-Capable Reporter just received a beautiful volume, "Assistance Dog Providers in the United States," a complete guide to finding a guide, hearing, or service dog. Seizure and therapy dogs are also included. If you know someone who needs a care dog, let us know where the person lives and we can tell you where the dogs are in that particular state.