Visual Impairment Doesn’t Stop Tri-C Graduate

Margaret Downs is an entrepreneur and 2016 recipient of Tri-C Community Champion Award

Cuyahoga Community College graduate Margaret Downs has battled glaucoma since she was a child. The eye disease has rendered Downs legally blind, but it hasn’t prevented her from achieving her goals.

The 53-year-old Concord Township resident maintained an A average throughout primary and secondary school, became a Tri-C graduate in 2011 and now assists others as the CEO of Premier Visual Voice, a business she founded in 2012 with husband Hugh.

Premier Visual Voice assists sight- and hearing-impaired clients who need help adapting classroom lectures, conferences and meetings to their needs.

Downs is also the president of the Verbatim Reporters Association of Ohio, and operates a Fresh Coat Painters franchise with her husband.

Downs received the 2016 Tri-C Community Champion Award for her efforts with Premier Visual Voice. Her journey of perseverance was the subject of a recent News-Herald article.

September 19, 2019

Erik Cassano, 216-987-3577 or erik.cassano@tri-c.edu