Blindness

Life Not at 20/20

Adreana (who wishes her last name remain private) is a 23-year-old young woman who was born with a visual impairment. She recalls a particular time in her life when her mother, who has since passed away, made a difference and commenced Adreana’s path to a “normal” college lifestyle. In her freshman year of college, Adreana had exams read to her and she answered them orally at the Disability Resource Services office. The woman who worked there wanted her to use a program called JAWS (which reads exams to students through the computer). Adreana, however, was never a fan of the program because the computer voice was arduous and hard for her to understand. “There weren’t a whole lot of students that the disabilities office was responsible for, and my mom couldn’t understand why no one wanted to take the time to read the exams to me. She went into the office and calmly asked them this question. She said something about me (and other students with special needs) fighting all kinds of battles daily and that we should be given as much help as possible, especially if it doesn't hinder anything else in the office”, Adreana recollects. Her mother’s act of kindness and consideration allowed Adreana to never worry about being pushed to use programs she was not comfortable with. Living with vision problems all her life has brought about hindrances, however such a small deed made life that much easier for Adreana. To this day, its vast significance makes this memory stand out in her mind.

When looking at the five foot four, ninety-seven pound young lady, one would never assume she has vision impairment. She does not wear glasses, and she does not think there will ever be contact lenses thick enough for her. Adreana also does not have a protective lens in either eye, thus her cornea gets scratched very easily, and wearing contact lenses would aggravate the vulnerability of the cornea. Her bright blue eyes, which she has been told remind people of the sky, appear normal. “They're pretty much all blue with specks of white throughout. I get asked if they're contacts constantly. I've also been told they look like marbles. I guess they probably do”, she says of her eyes. With a vision of 20/2300 in each eye, her beautiful eyes cannot see very far ahead. She can see a couch from about five feet away, yet she would not be able to see something on the couch if it is too small or if the colors blend in too much. To get a better visual, Adreana compares her vision to how you would be able to see if smearing Vaseline all over your goggles.

Her doctor refers to her vision impairment as a form of Glaucoma. Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that gradually takes away vision without many and sometimes no symptoms. It was once thought that high pressure within the eye, also known as intraocular pressure or IOP, is the main cause of this optic nerve damage. Although IOP is clearly a risk factor, it is now known that other factors must also be involved because even people with “normal” levels of pressure can experience vision loss from glaucoma (www.glaucoma.org). When Adreana was a baby, she had tons of doctors come in and look at her eye condition and there have been articles written about it, but not too much has been studied. “I'm not exactly sure why that is. I am the only one in the world with this exact condition. My parents took me to geneticists when I was young and they called it a genetic mutation. They explained it to my parents by saying it would be like an African American person and a white person giving birth to a Native American—scientifically impossible”, Adreana tells me.

Growing up as a visually impaired child and then teenager comes with its drawbacks. Adreana’s positive personality, however, does not allow her to reflect on any shortcomings. “You always hear that kids can be mean, and honestly, I was so lucky. Obviously, I ran into the random kid that made a comment that wasn't nice, but that was it. Honestly, I have nothing bad to say about anything”, she says.

Adreana’s visual impairment does not get in the way of her passion for singing. Being a huge hockey fan, she was picked to sing the National Anthem at two Detroit Red Wing games when she was 18. Adreana also had the lead in two musicals her senior year in high school, The Fantasticks and Oklahoma. “I think I'm most proud of those because that's what I love doing”, Adreana says with a smile. Her dad, on the other hand, thinks that she should be proud of attending a regular public school and graduating 8th in her class of 300. This goes to prove that nothing can get in the way of success and achievement. Adreana went on to attend the University of Michigan in Dearborn. She graduated with a B.A. in Public Relations