A 7-year-old girl walks through a brilliantly luminous, deep-red hallway at the Central Library in Downtown Seattle. Fascinated by the iridescence of the tunneled scene, the girl tilts her head, as though studying a painting in an art gallery.
"It's red," she says to her aunt, Elizabeth Trautman, who guides her by the hand.
Equally taken by the scene, Trautman admires the sight of color with her niece, who is blind.
"She sees colors, [and] that helps because you can describe things in color to her and she relates emotionally to color just like a seeing person would," Trautman said. She was attending a low-vision exposition at the library April 16 with her niece and her parents. "She likes color a lot."
Not fitting the stereotype
It is important for people to understand that being blind is not as black and white as it may seem. "Most people think either blind or sighted - but not the in-between part," said North Seattle resident Julie DeGeus, who is now completely blind. She was volunteering at the exposition.
"Low vision" is a term commonly used to mean "partial sight," or sight that isn't fully correctable with surgery or corrective lenses. It can range from moderate vision impairment to near total blindness and can be caused by a variety of factors, including eye injury, diseases and heredity.
"There seems to be this stereotype when somebody says they're blind that means I can't see anything," said Kristina Lawrence, a volunteer for the National Federation of the Blind of Washington (NFBW) who was working at the exposition. Lawrence was born with cancer of the retinas, a hereditary disease, and can see what she describes as pictures without the fine detail. "Most people who are blind have some residual vision. I'd like to see the word 'blind' not be such a cuss word," she said.
Reading challenges
As with any disability, being blind certainly comes with its challenges. One of those is reading.
"I used to be able to skim regular printed material a lot better than I can now," said Seattle resident Dorene Cornwell, who is only able to see clearly out of one eye. "I used to be able to read the newspaper on the bus, and so one of my goals in life is to read on the bus." Cornwell said she is not very proficient at Braille or using computer software for the blind.
Kurt Brunnenkant of Seattle utilizes such technology for his two 11-year-old sons, who have peripheral vision but cannot see in front of them. "We have a Merlin," Brunnenkant said, pointing to a computer screen that enlarges fine print. "They can look at their baseball cards with it, their Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, or they can read the writing on a quarter."
Then there are the blind parents, like Lawrence, who want to read to their sighted children. Lawrence was not taught Braille when she was a child because societal attitudes at the time decreed that only the fully blind needed to learn it. As a result, she learned it in three months as an adult.
"My daughter was born, [and] I realized that I wanted to have that time with her sitting in my lap and reading. I realized I know Braille; I need to get better at it."
Using the Washington Talking Book of Braille Library, Lawrence is able to read simple stories with twin vision, which is clear Braille over printed words. "I can read to my daughter, and she can follow along with the printed words, and my son is doing the same thing," she said.
When Lawrence needs to calm her children or put them to sleep, she can turn out the lights and read to them in the dark. "My husband is jealous!" Lawrence said.
"What a concept to have a board book where a mother can read 'Goodnight Moon' to her baby, or the baby can read to the mother," said Sally Jo, with the Talking Book Library.
Transportation, technology issues
The other big challenge for the blind is transportation.
According to Marcia Appleton, vice president of social services for Community Services for the Blind and Partially Sighted, transportation is the greatest challenge for many patients. By the time people come in to the clinic, Appleton said, they are already limited in driving or cannot do so at all, so it presents a problem.
When you're blind, Lawrence said, "you are always going to have to rely on public transportation or somebody else to give you that ride that you need."
She said for now she relies on networking to help get her daughter to Girl Scouts and her son to day care, but she would like to have talking buses on Seattle's Metro Transit to verbally announce each stop.
There are other technologies that experts hope will become available to the blind as well. Harry H. Hart III, founder and CEO of The Awarea Corp. in Seattle, said he hopes the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) will soon be adapted to the streets of Seattle. With this technology, Hart said, "as you walk through [a certain] area you'll hear on speakers your location and services that might be available to you within 50 feet."
In addition, Daniel Bakus, president of Speech Io, said that his easy-to-use, affordable software makes it possible for the blind to use a computer without the restraints of a keyboard or mouse.
"You can have both hands busy and be talking to your computer, and you hear everything coming back so you know that the recognition has been accurate," he said.
While waiting for these technologies to become available, the blind can utilize many services that are offered. Gael Bohannon, with the Lions Low Vision Clinic (lowvisionclinic.org), said that in addition to devices and information, the Lions' clinic has occupational therapists who will go one step beyond.
"Sometimes people may need their appliances labeled, and we will go over to their homes and put little dots where the thermostat should be or where the off is on the stove, so we can try to keep them as safe as possible," she said.
Such services are covered through insurance, but Bohannon said, "if a person is of low income and really needs this help, then we'll ask the Lions to chip in and [help.]"
She added, "We're out there to help [the blind]. If they need it, we'll do it."
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