CONWAY: Blind student navigates world by using technology

By Sara Greene

LITTLE ROCK — Hendrix junior Lucas Harder, 20, of Alread, faces the same challenges as many students in college - and one extra. He’s blind.

“Originally I was totally blind in my right eye at 9 weeks, and I had 10/200 vision in my left eye. Now I’m blind in my right eye and have limited light perception in my left eye,” Harder said. He said he was born with cytomegalo-virus, which caused his blindness.

Like most college students, Harder has lots of technology to carry around with him each day, but his specialized equipment helps him navigate the world, as well as his lessons.

The computer in his dorm room hasa program called JAWS, which is an acronym for Job Access with Sound.

“It reads most of what is on the screen back to me, but it does have trouble with Java,” Harder said, referring to a type of computer programming.

For example, Harder does most of his banking online. His bank recently changed its log-in screen to use Java programming. Now he needs someone to help him log in, because the JAWS program can’t read that page.

He carries a note-taking device called PAC Mate, which looks like a gray computer keyboard. It has an audio transcription feature and has a Braille display screen.

“Teachers will e-mail me what they plan to write on the board the night before class. I use an USB port to transfer that to the PAC Mate. That way, while the instructor is writing notes on the board, I can follow along on my Braille screen,” Harder said.

Sometimes, professors will add remarks to a lecture or jot something on the board and Harder has to remind them to tell him what they wrote. He also has a CD player called a Telex Scholar. It plays special formats of school books, but is much more userfriendly than audio books.

“They used to have all the books on audio cassette, and I’d have to find which tape had the page number I need, and then I’d have to rewind and kind of guess where to stop the tape. With Telex Scholar I can hit one button and tell it what page Ineed,” Harder said.

He is majoring in classic civilization and has maintained a 3.5 GPA the past two semesters.

Harder also has a cell phone equipped with special software called Talks, which talks to him. For example, when the phone rings, the Talks program tells Harder what number is calling.

All this technology has helped him depend less on others.

“I don’t necessarily have to rely on another person to read things to me. Now professors can send me assignments on the computer, and it is much more convenient than translating an assignment into Braille and then back to print,” Harder said. He enjoys reading science fiction and fantasy with the help of his machines. He also has a special audio player, which similar to an MP3 player, but it doesn’t have a screen. The audio player tells him what song he’s listening to and how much battery life is left.

“Except for our disability,blind and deaf people are just like everyone else,” Harder said.

Blindness doesn’t slow him down socially, either.

“Crowds can be overwhelming if I don’t have someone I know with me. I can’t think of any event I’ve missed out on,” Harder said.

He does get depressed every once in a while, but the mood usually passes quickly.

“I’ll wish I could do something I used to be able to do, like go for walk by myself or do computer games. Mostly I’m optimistic. During freshman orientation they do skits to educate freshmen about making good decisions, like not drinking, and I did a skit on blindness,” Harder said.

He said for him, the biggest challenge about being blind is not being able to travel in ruralparts of the state with few or no sidewalks.

“I use a white cane, and even around campus some of the sidewalks are pretty uneven, but I’ve kind of memorized where they are and travel around them,” Harder said.

When he completes Hendrix College, Harder said he’d study civil rights law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

“I decided on law school when I was in 11th grade,” Harder said. He went to Alread High School, except for 10th grade and his senior year. In 10th grade, he went to Clinton High School to take a class that was only being offered through distance learning at Alread. Before his senior year in 2006, the two schools consolidated.

After college, Harder said he wants to move a city where most everything is Americanwith Disabilities Act compliant, for example crosswalk signs that have sound. A friendly beep lets the blind know when it is safe to cross the street and a cautionary buzz tells them to wait.

Technology has been more of a help than a hindrance for Harder.

“A lot of the obstacles I experience are that technology moves so quickly that anything I have that doesn’t update free or regularly becomes out of date rather quickly. For example, if I get a new computer, I would have to buy a new version of JAWS to work with the latest version of windows and the JAWS program costs about $1,100,” Harder said. The PAC Mate can cost between $2,000 and $5,000.

According to ourmoneytoo. org, there is a movement it have the U.S. Treasury add embossed Braille to paper currency to make the bills easier for blind people toidentify. Harder relies on the old method of folding down the corners of his money. For example, ones have a fold to the right and fives have a fold toward the top of the bill. Larger bills have a specific location in his wallet.

The National Federation of the Blind’s Web site, www.nfb. org, said most blind people lose their vision later in life because of macular degeneration glaucoma and diabetes.

The site estimates there are 10 million blind or visually impaired Americans and of those 93,600 are schoolchildren. According to the Associated Press, the Department of Human Services Blind Services Division provides services to more than 2,000 blind or visually impaired Arkansans.

Since he has been vision impaired for so long, Harder said he doesn’t remember what it was like to not have technology to help.

“I know I would be in a lot of trouble if this technology wasn’t around,” Harder said.

River Valley Ozark, Pages 59, 60 on 07/10/2008