The Plainsman Press - South Plains College

by Jerrod Carr, staff writer

In a visual world, vision is often taken for granted.

But in my life, vision is excepted with gratitude and open arms. Many times I’ve asked myself, do other people see what I see, and how I see it?

Do other people understand what it is like to wake up one day and see clearly, and wake up the next and not be able to see five feet in front of you? Well, the answer to these questions is, No, other people are not like me at all, except for an unfortunate few.

I am visually impaired and have been considered legally blind since I was 18 months old. Though I am fortunate enough to not be totally blind, my vision is bad enough to limit me and make me different from everybody else. At times, I stick out like a sore thumb in a visual world.

Because I have been visually impaired all of my life, I have come to believe that other people see what I see. However, this is not the case. People with normal vision have the ability, or at least a chance, to learn how to drive when the proper time comes. I, on the other hand, will never have a chance to drive. People with normal vision can see to take notes from the overhead projector or PowerPoint presentation in class, while I sit and can only dream of what it would be like, to be able to see that clearly, to participate as a normal student, and to even take notes as a normal student.

So how do I get through every day? My days start like anyone else’s. I wake up and open my eyes to a new day, except when I open my eyes, I look around to see how clearly I can see the room around me. On some days, I might be able to see everything in my room clearly, by my standards. The next day, the desk that is only 10 feet away will look like a big, brown blur. My vision isn’t consistent like everyone else’s. My vision is affected by the weather, by my allergies and by the environment that I live in.

After I wake up and discover whether or not my vision is good or bad by my standards, I begin my day like any normal college student would. I get out of bed, put on my clothes, maybe eat some breakfast and get ready to head to class.

Heading to class is, at times, an adventure for me, depending on whether or not my eyes are good or bad. If my eyes are good, I usually have no problem with crossing the streets or talking to an acquaintance who sees me from a distance. However, if I’m having what I call a “bad eye day,” I’m taking my life into my own hands every time I walk out of the door.

Imagine opening your eyes and everything around you is one big blur. You can see a faint, moving figure at the end of the hall. That is a guy who lives in the dorm. Then you walk outside into the morning sun, glaring down, showing no mercy for those who can barely tolerate its intensity.

You walk to the curb and you hear the cars passing by. You want to see the cars, but when you do see them, they are five feet away. If you take one misstep, you might be splattered on the asphalt.

So how do I get across the street on “bad eye days?” I cross the street like everyone else would, except I listen for the cars. I have learned how to judge distance when listening to them, and I rely heavily on my ears to pick up that car 100 yards away. There have been several occasions when my ears didn’t pick up that car. But lucky me, I’ve never been hit, because I was fast enough to get out of the street. So you see, it is an adventure.

Now that I’ve made it across the street in one piece, how do I find the class that I’m supposed to go to? Well, I use landmarks. Unlike many men, I put my pride away and ask for directions. Once I’ve been told how to get to a classroom, I go and find it.

Once I’ve found the classroom, I will backtrack and count how many doors are before my classroom, or I will find a water fountain that will help me establish where my class is. However, I will not follow this process for the previous directions, but for all of the other possible ways to get to the class.

This process is what those in the visually-impaired community call O&M, or Orientation and Mobility. It is the process of learning how to get to where you want to go, through learning routes, discovering landmarks and following the basic skills you’ve been taught to get to a destination safely.

Once I’m in class, life tends to slow down, as it does for most college students. As mentioned earlier, I have to listen and pay very close attention to what the instructor says, because my typing skills and auditory skills are what I rely on to take notes successfully. While in class, I also rely on other tools to help me succeed and be a participating student. These tools include a magnifying glass, a portable CCTV (Close Circuit Television), and a program on my computer called ZoomText, which enlarges the view on my laptop up to 16 times.

All of these tools help tremendously. But at times they aren’t even enough to help me get by in class. What do I do then? Well, instead of doing my in-class work like the rest of the class, I have to take it home, and use a full size CCTV to aid me in doing my homework. The work is time consuming, as well as frustrating and overwhelming at times. But these are no strangers to me.

All of my life, I have had to deal with these factors, such as spending three hours on homework when it should only take one hour, doing extra work out of class so I can understand what is going on, and constantly reminding myself that with patience and time, great achievements will come.

What do I do in my free time? Do I experience the college life like every other student? Well, the answer is, Yes, I do experience college life like everyone else. However, my college life isn’t near as exciting as some, mainly because I can’t drive to go places, and must rely on my friends to drive me around from place to place. For the most part, though, I am like every other college student. I go to class, I take the same tests, and I hang out with friends to pass the time.

So for those with a visual impairment who might be reading this tiny print, and for those who need a light at the end of the tunnel, here are some words of encouragement: Life is hard. It will, at times, give you a load that seems too large to carry. But if you manage your time properly, take the time to breathe and think of how things will get better. Anything is possible.

For instance, during the time I’ve been in college, I’ve managed to maintain a 3.8 GPA or higher every semester. I’ve written music for and recorded my first piano album, then turned around a year later and released another piano album performing another writer’s compositions. I’ve found time to hang out with my family and friends, and I’ve picked up several hobbies along the way.

So all I’m trying to say for anyone who needs inspiration in his or her life, is anything can happen if you will take the time to step back and observe your life, focus on what is at hand, don’t look too far ahead and enjoy every day that you have vision, because most of you reading this do have vision. Don’t take your vision for granted, because there are those of us who would give almost anything to experience perfect sight.

There are those of us who would love to experience the road at 90 miles an hour. But the closest we will ever get to that is the passenger seat.

In closing, I ask one simple favor. If you see an individual who is visually impaired or blind, and he or she is struggling to get by, don’t look at him or her as if he or she was an alien. Lend a helping hand. It will do wonders. Trust me, I know.