A 19-year-old college student and company intern in Philadelphia. A 29-year-old IRS employee in Buffalo, New York. Both grew up with severely impaired vision, but while challenges exist, they don’t let blindness sidetrack their goals. Smarter, accessible technology makes a difference. Still more important, advocating for themselves and being independent — yet knowing when to ask for help — means they’re living life to the fullest.
Work and School Success
Calculus is never a picnic, but imagine if you couldn’t see the numbers on the board. “In my case, I need to physically Braille it out,” says Kinzey Lynch, 19, a sophomore at Drexel University. Lynch was born with a condition called microsomia. His vision is limited to a very close distance. “I basically see lights and shadows,” he says.
An app helps, but advanced math is still challenging. “Each step takes a lot longer, and it requires a lot more work and patience,” he says. “That kind of comes with the territory of being a student with a visual impairment in college.” At the moment, Lynch isn’t taking classes. He’s landed a full-time paid internship at PECO, an Exelon energy company in Philadelphia.
Not long ago, Lynch was a high-school kid working the McDonald’s drive-thru. “I’d have the little drink machine where you’re going up to the window,” he says. He placed stick-on tactile dots, or bump dots, to distinguish diet soda from iced tea. “I’d have the shake machine labeled up, too,” he adds.
“There are things you can and can’t do,” Lynch says. “I don’t think you want me in the back flipping burgers with crazy-hot open grill areas and having to rush to cook stuff. It’s about finding what you can do, being resourceful and being able to speak up for yourself. That’s kind of something I’ve had to learn at a young age.”
Tech devices make a big difference for Lynch, whether he’s completing course work or creating Excel spreadsheets in his marketing-research role. A screen-reader program called JAWS “talks” to Lynch, connecting him to the Internet. He’s able to surf the Web, use Microsoft Word and create PowerPoint slides. He also uses a Braille Notetaker to quickly type notes in Braille during lectures.
A social media fan, Lynch uses his iPhone’s VoiceOver feature to interact on Facebook and Twitter, as well as check his email and surf the Web, and he enjoys streaming radio on Pandora.
He also leads a full social life. “The only thing you have to be mindful of: being in a major city, you’re going to have times where you’re not going to want to be out and about on a Saturday night by yourself,” Lynch says. “But that’s [the same] for anyone with 20-20 vision. Outside of that, I live a pretty normal life. I have all my friends and stuff; they’re just the same as I am.”
“It’d be easy to just be at home and collect a check and do whatever,” Lynch says. “But in order to lead a better life and be successful and be a contributing member to society, you have to be able to step out of your comfort zone. And you have to be able to speak up if you need help and be independent — because the world’s not going to stop because you have a visual impairment.”
Tech Inclusion
Young adults with visual impairments can increasingly plug into the same mobile technology and social networks their peers enjoy. “Most of the social media platforms are rather accessible at this point,” says Kim Graham, the access technology program director for the Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired and affiliates. “We’re happy about that.”
Screen-reader and screen-magnifying technology has been around for decades, Graham says. She praises Apple in particular for integrating VoiceOver and other accessibility apps into its products.
People who read Braille can use special devices, like Braille embossers to emboss rather than print hard-copy notes. A slew of other devices, ranging from the low-tech bump dots to video magnifiers, help users at work and home.
For safer travel, one mobile app is the Sendero GPS LookAround. Users can locate points of interest, like restaurants, by swiping through an audible list of options and double-tapping. Crossing the street remains a safety issue, however. “The GPS apps will tell you an intersection is coming up, but they’re not going to alert you if there’s a truck coming,” Graham says. Smartphone-based systems are in development for visually impaired pedestrians.
While Graham doesn’t like to put the onus on employers, she says it can be worth their while to seek out resources for workers struggling with vision loss. “And just discuss things with the employee,” she says. “If the employee’s open with their vision impairment, the discussion is half the battle.”
Planes, Trains, Skis and Horses
For Jessica Snyder, a customer service representative for the IRS, there’s always a way. “Being blind has certainly not stopped me,” Snyder says. “I’ve been riding horses for years. I downhill ski. I’ve gone to China.”
Premature at birth, Snyder started life with poor vision, which abruptly worsened. “When I was 8, my retina detached, causing me to be completely blind in my right eye,” she says. “Which thankfully happened young enough that I was able to adapt. I was able to learn Braille and learn what technology was available at the time.”
Her parents’ attitude set the tone, Snyder says: “They were the type who were like, ‘OK, you need to learn how to do this, and these are the ways we have available.'”
At 23, Snyder moved away from her home in Cleveland to live independently in Buffalo. To get around safely, Snyder prefers having a guide dog partner to using a white cane, although she’s waiting for a new dog who’s a good match. “Not having a dog doesn’t prevent me from traveling,” she notes. She just took a train to Albany, New York, for a National Federation of the Blind convention, and she travels independently to visit friends throughout the country.
Navigating airports takes a certain amount of strategy. Paratransit, a smaller version of a city bus for people with disabilities, allows Snyder to reach the airport independently. Once she gets there, however, check-in kiosks are inaccessible. Instead, she checks in at the counter, where she makes her needs known: “Now I need assistance getting through security and to the gate.” That means walking with an airline employee or skycap to her destination — but without anyone having to touch her, her cane or her guide dog.
“It’s a component of being independent: knowing when to ask for help,” Snyder says. “Is it inconvenient sometimes? Would you rather just do it yourself and not have to worry about asking anyone else? Yes, of course. But when it comes down to it, if your safety is in jeopardy, would it be easier to walk with someone?”
Accepting help broadens horizons, Snyder has found. For years, she skied with 3 Trackers of Ohio, a group that promotes adaptive recreational sports for people with a variety of disabilities. Horseback riding, which Snyder took up for therapy as a child, led to her competing on her college equestrian team. Riding the animal itself was no problem, but she needed help with certain details during competitions. Since she couldn’t read the posted letters, for instance, her team members would call them out as she rode by.
“It’s supposed to be a team effort between you and your horse, but I also had to depend on the [college] team,” Snyder says. “I think my teammates really enjoyed doing that. That was definitely an accommodation that had to be made, but it worked out really well.”
If you know somebody with a vision impairment, Snyder says, “Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Most people who are disabled, whatever that disability is, are more than willing to talk about their disability and accommodations they may need. Don’t assume anything. Go in with an open mind. If the person is deaf or blind, ask them how they need you as their friend or co-worker to relate to them.”
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Young, Blind and Dealing With It originally appeared on usnews.com
