Seeing With Blind Eyes
By Amanda Degard
Junior RJ Crace has been blind almost his entire life. Crace developed retinoblastoma eight weeks after he was born, and by the time he was three he was completely blind. According to MedlinePlus, retinoblastoma is an eye cancer that starts in the retina and is found mostly in children. Crace is not the only student who has been affected by retinoblastoma. Senior Joe Hodge developed the cancer when he was one year old.
Crace says, “The fact that I am blind ... doesn’t mean that I do things a whole lot differently. A lot of these things I do normally just like everybody else, maybe with a couple adaptations here and there to compensate for any losses because of my vision … but mainly I think I function like a normal human being should, and I have goals and aspirations and dreams just like anybody else.”
Crace does not let his blindness keep him from pursuing the activities he wants to participate in. He does pre-game, halftime and post-game reports for football on WCRD, Ball State’s radio station. He is also the College Republican’s president and is in Excellence in Leadership.
Like other students, Hodge says he likes to watch sports, play video games, hang out with friends and take care of his dog, Robin. Hodge is also involved with WCRD and has an on-campus job in the adaptive computer lab in Robert Bell.
Another thing that Crace and Hodge share with sighted individuals is dreams.
Crace says, “I would say that a lot of times that dreams are often a reflection of your life in a lot of ways. During my dreams, for example, I’m physically the person I am in real life. I can’t see and I still have my hard-of-hearing issue, and I think other than that, I have typical dreams that anyone would have.”
Hodge, on the other hand, says he is not blind in his dreams. “It’s not that I can see. It’s just like I don’t have a cane. I don’t really have Robin,” he says. “It’s just like I am walking around, and I know where everything is. I just see sort of how I would see things, like Ball State or something in my mind. That’s how it would come through in my dream. I don’t use anything; I just somehow navigate everything.”
Blind students need adaptations to get around campus. Crace navigates his way around campus with the help of a cane. He learned to use his cane while attending high school at the Indiana School for the Blind. There, he learned how to navigate indoors and outdoors. When inside a building, he says it is important to stay near the wall because he uses the wall as a guide. When outside, he says it is important to follow the curb or the grass line to avoid getting lost.
Crace also takes advantage of Ball State’s Disabled Student Development, a department of the university that provides “access and opportunity for students with disabilities so they might achieve their full potential.”
Larry Markle, director of Disabled Student Development, says, “We offer the disability shuttle on campus, which provides much better access than the standard shuttle that goes up and down McKinley.” The disability shuttle is door-to-door, so a student who is blind and does not have full confidence in his ability of getting around campus without assistance would be eligible to ride that shuttle for the door-to-door coverage.” Crace uses the disability shuttle to get to and from his classes.
Hodge, on the other hand, recently got Robin, a Seeing Eye dog, to help him navigate. He says, “I have more confidence. I go down to the village a lot more than I probably used to because I have more willingness to do more things and walk further distances. I walk her about two and a half to three miles a day.”
Hodge still uses his cane depending on where he is going, but he says, “When you have a cane it is kind of in a sense that you have control, which it is cool in a sense, but you’re a lot slower. You hit things. It’s kind of like a give, give. So, when you have a dog in control you have to kind of put your trust in them, and hope that they’ll guide you around things, and if they don’t, they usually won’t let you bump into something serious.”
Navigating is just one aspect where Crace and Hodge need adaptations. Doing homework, attending class and studying for tests is completely different than it is for the sighted.
Markle says, Disabled Student Development offers tools such as testing accommodations, special texts like Braille, audio programs that speak aloud the text on computer screens and in-class note takers.
Markle emphasizes how important technology is in a blind person’s life. “For students who are blind, the key to success in post-secondary education is technology,” Markle says. “A successful blind student has got to be versed in technology to do well.”
Ball State has an adaptive-technology lab for students with disabilities. Hodge is a student employee in the lab. Carlos Taylor, Ball State’s adaptive computer technology specialist, oversees the lab which is located in the Robert Bell building.
Taylor can relate to visually impaired students because he too is blind and has been since he was 7 years old. Taylor lost his vision because of detached retinas. “My left eye first and then my right,” he says. “There is no specific incident that caused it. It was the way my eyes were shaped, and when they grew, they stretched and eventually detached.”
Taylor has been the adaptive computer technology specialist for five years and understands all the software used in the lab. The lab is equipped with a Braille printer, refreshable Braille displays and software to enable the visually impaired to use the computers.
Window-Eyes is software that is automatically activated when the computer is turned on and reads all selected text on the screen.
“Kurzweill is mainly used for reading,” Taylor says. ”So, with a scanner attached, you can scan a piece of print material, and it will convert that into synthetic speech so you can listen to what the paper says.”
The lab also has equipment that uses Braille to assist users. The Duxbury program works with the Braille printer to convert text into Braille and can print text on the Braille printer. Also, refreshable Braille displays are attached to computers and enable the user to read what is on the screen. The refreshable Braille display reads the selected text one line at a time and pins are raised to form the Braille words.
Both Crace and Hodge use Braillenotes. Hodge says, “[A] Braillenote... it’s like a Braille keyboard, and I just type it in, and it also displays the notes on the bottom, and I’ll start typing in my notes, and I can read them that way.”
Crace and Hodge also take advantage of the Disabled Student Development note taker service but only to supplement the notes they take on their own. Hodge says, “I just try to listen as much as I can, and then read notes that someone sends to me after class because of the fact that class does move pretty fast, and sometimes, they don’t go over everything that is on the Power Point.”
According to the Ball State News Center, in 2005, Ball State alumna Myra Jean Bush, left her two estates to Ball State. Some of the money from the estates was left to create scholarships for students who are visually impaired.
Markle says, “We have been able to purchase a lot of personal equipment for students who are blind, above and beyond what we are mandated to do. Some things for students to have and own instead of university equipment.”
Markle says that each year Disabled Student Development is able to spend $20,000 of that fund and use half on scholarships and half on personal items for the students.
“We are able to give each of the students that applied $2,000 each last year,” he says.
Some areas of a blind student’s life are a little harder than others. Hodge lives off campus, and when he needs to go grocery shopping, he needs to set aside a large amount of time. When Hodge goes shopping, he goes to the customer service desk and asks for assistance. “Sometimes I have to wait 30 or 40 minutes to get assistance,” he says.
“It’s not like most people who can walk into a store, get something and leave. Whereas me, I really have to plan like a two hour, three hour window sometimes because it can take awhile.”
When it comes time to pay, Hodge always uses debit. Since bills in the United States are all the same size, there is no way for a blind person to tell how much money he is paying or how much money is given back to him.
“Canadian bills and euros are different sizes,” Hodge says. Technology has enabled the blind to pay with cash, but it comes with a large price tag. Hodge says there are bill identifiers that can identify the amount of a bill but cost about $300.
Another technology available is a color identifier. Hodge says, a color identifier can tell the color of clothing, and it can also tell if a light is left on in a room. “If you have someone come over, it actually senses light in the room, or if they forget to shut it off, you’re not being charged $900 on a power bill,” he says.
Each day for these students may seem like a struggle, but they are living their lives like any other student on campus. With the help of Ball State and Disabled Student Development, they are able to get an education that will help them reach their goals. Hodge says, “I feel comfortable in Muncie, and I definitely think Ball State has prepared me for the work field and taught me a lot.”
