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TOPEKA (KSNT) – Being diagnosed with stargardt disease in freshman year of high school, Heather Martens didn’t let her vision quality dictate how she would live. Bringing coffee, a positive attitude and inspiration throughout Topeka, Martens exemplifies what it means to be a remarkable woman.
Before she was a business owner, Martens had been a Barista for about seven years. Martens and her co-worker friend always said that she was the best blind Barista.
“I didn’t want to be 50, and decide, and tell my kids I had this really good idea when I was 40, but I was too scared to do it,” she said. “So I just went for it.”
In addition to the coffee itself, there’s a bigger purpose behind the Blind Barista Coffee Till Cocktails Trailer. Through her time with the Blind Barista, Martens has spoken at conventions for those with disabilities, including at the Kansas School for the Blind.
“To be able to be an example that says you can do it,” Martens said, “Just because you have, if you want to call it a disability or whatever you want to call it like yeah I do have that, but if you can’t change it then you might as well embrace it. That’s what I do!”
She’s embraced her helpful and loving perspective for decades now. Along with her husband, the pair have housed foster care kids since college. She estimates that throughout the years over 60 kids have stayed with them through the foster care system, including the two they’ve adopted.
“I don’t want anybody to feel the way that I felt with being unloved or told that I was a liar,” Martens said. “The house that we’re in now we bought for the sole purpose of doing foster care. We started that in 2010, and we’ve had so many kids in our home. Whether they’re short term placements where they’ve been taken out of the home like emergency by the police. I know of the heartache that goes with all of their stories. Being able to be Mama Heather to them for a while, and that they still call me that is beyond a privilege. Like it makes me want to cry.”
Through her business and her personal life, the Blind Barista really promotes the idea that you can do whatever you set your mind to, regardless of personal issues or setbacks.
“Everyone’s got something that they’re dealing with,” Martens said, “whether you can tell by looking at them and it’s visible because your eyes look funny or if you have a problem hearing, or if you have a problem with type 1 diabetes. Everybody has something, but we can all do something to make another person smile or be successful. There’s always something that we can be good at and it doesn’t matter what your disability or your problem or what you think holds you back, there’s always something that you can do.”
With her business just recently passing half a year of service, Heather’s focus on spreading positivity, inspiration, and coffee across the sunflower state is just getting started.
