Folsom resident finds recipe for success after blindness

Cody Kitts of Folsom was a chef but did not enjoy cooking much until he lost his vision, started a new career and rediscovered cooking as a hobby. After attending culinary school and cooking in restaurants in Las Vegas, Kitts moved back to his hometown of Folsom in 2018 at age 28 and was managing restaurants. While fighting an eye infection, he woke up one morning with one eye seeing only white and the other only black. He was hospitalized for a week and a half as doctors tried to save his vision, eventually recovering a small portion of peripheral vision in his left eye. "When it first happened, obviously everything stopped," Kitts said. "I was an adult who went blind, so I went into depression for a long time." It took nearly two years for Kitts to find help, but eventually his mom found the nonprofit Society for the Blind in Sacramento. Society for the Blind provides low-vision eye care, life and job skills training, mentorship and access to tools to maintain independence for more than 5,000 youth, working-age adults and seniors experiencing vision loss each year. "Society for the Blind staff were the ones who convinced me to finally leave my room," Kitts said. "They shared their stories with me, and I realized I wasn't the only one. It really helped me to find a place where there were other people who had faced vison loss and depression and went on to have successful lives." After connecting with the Department of Rehabilitation, Kitts began assistive technology classes at Society for the Blind, where he learned how to use assistive technology to perform work functions and to confidently explain his ability to do the job for which he was applying. Six months later, he was ready to start a new chapter. He began taking a variety of classes at UC Davis, including wine and digital marketing and working toward his bachelor's degree in business management. But as he began looking for employment, he realized how hard it was to find private industry jobs. "Eventually, it comes up that you're legally blind, and it is a factor," Kitts said. "So, people started pointing me toward state jobs." For a year and a half, he applied for every state of California job for which he was qualified. He attended workshops on how to land a state job and even worked with a city councilmember he knew who had a background working for the state. "Everyone I talked to said it takes at least six months to get a job with the state, if you're lucky, but more likely it will take over a year," Kitts said. As he was applying for jobs with the state, he realized most of his technology training had been on Apple products because of the assistive technology built in, but state jobs required a PC computer. So once again, he turned to Society for the Blind and learned how to use PCs. In July 2025, Kitts was hired by the state as a tax technician, helping people resolve issues with their accounts. "It was strange at first working in taxes, as I didn't know if I would like it," he said. "But I figured it was still working with people, and at the end of the day, that's what restaurant work is, too. Customer service was a through-line that gave me something to lean on in a new industry. It turns out I really like my job and the team I'm with. I had applied to 60 jobs, but it was worth it in the end." Once Kitts has finished his probationary period at work, he wants to apply to be part of the Disability Advisory Committee that is working to make his department more accessible and open to people with disabilities. As Kitts works full time, he also is going to school full time to finish his bachelor's degree in business management and hopes to eventually earn a master's degree. "I want to be able to keep moving up in the state," he said. "Having a master's degree in management will help me get into administrator roles, and if nothing else, it's one more way to show myself I can still do things." In his limited free time, Kitts enjoys playing disc golf with his brother-in-law and friends he met through the sport during Covid. "When my brother-in-law first invited me to play, my joke was, 'Oh yeah, that's going to go so well, the blind guy throwing discs,' " he said. "But I ended up loving it. I'm still terrible, and it's not recommended for blind people, but I showed myself I can do this and I've gotten better." He also now enjoys cooking with friends. "When I worked in restaurants, cooking was something I was paid to do," Kitts said. "Now I get to enjoy doing it, and it's a fun skill to pull out that surprises people. Most people in my life now didn't know me back when I worked in restaurants. It just shows your life changes, and you can start doing other things." Kitts is grateful he knows his community at Society for the Blind will always be there if he needs additional support. "I know I always have a ticket outstanding and can reach out if I find something I need," he said. "It's really nice to know they're there, especially since doctors don't know how long my vision will be stable." Kitts said he has made peace with the fact he cannot control what happens with his eyesight. "The biggest thing I learned at Society for the Blind is that you can always figure it out and learn a way to do it, whatever it is," he said. "I would not be here without Society for the Blind, and they will always have a close place in my heart." For more than 70 years, Sacramento-based Society for the Blind has continued to create innovative ways to empower individuals living with low vision or blindness to discover, develop and achieve their full potential. Since 1954, Society for the Blind has grown from a dedicated group of volunteers to a nationally recognized agency and the only comprehensive rehabilitative teaching center that provides services for a 27-county region of Northern California. Learn more or donate: www.SocietyfortheBlind.org.