A VISION FOR HELPING OTHERS
Blind student understands the frustrations; she lives it every day and knows how to cope
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William Alix / KANSAN
Kirkwood paints landscapes inspired by pictures in books or photographs she has taken on trips. Kirkwood has sold her paintings, and some have been published in magazines.
By April Gonzales Special to the Kansan
Heather Kirkwood, Wichita sophomore, uses a computer with a voice synthesizer and screen magnifier software to write text, and a video apparatus to read books. Kirkwood suffers from albinism, or a lack of pigmentation, and is partially blind.
William Alix/ KANSAN
Recess time!
Children burst through the doorways and onto the playground even before the echoes of the bell had died. Anxious and giddy, they lined up to pick teams for baseball.
One little girl, Heather Kirkwood, played by herself on the sidelines. She had tried to persuade her teacher to let her to stay inside but was told to join the other children on the field.
"I tried to play baseball, but each time, I would be insulted," said Kirkwood, now a KU sophomore. "It was hard to participate in something that was so difficult to do; it set me apart from the rest of the kids."
The other children did not want Kirkwood on their teams, she said, because she is partially blind. It was her earliest memory of an experience in which her peers made her feel unequal.
Kirkwood was born with albinism, which makes her eyes sensitive to light because they lack the pigment melanin. The hereditary condition also affects her 17-year-old brother, who also is blind.
But Kirkwood has learned to turn her disability into a learning experience for others who are blind.
With the help of some other "die-hard" blind-student advocates, she is starting a group for visually impaired students on campus.
"Blind students need to network together so they can become more independent by helping one another," she said. It is to the blind students' mutual benefit to break down stereotypes about the visually impaired." she said.
Mike Shuttic, assistant director of the Student Assistance Center, called Kirkwood a leader who wanted to get things done. "The group will be a success," he said.
Another key goal of the group is to make blind students more aware of the options they have on campus and in the world.
According to the National Federation of the Blind, about 500,000 people in the United States are blind, and 50,000 more become blind each year. Many of these people may not know about programs and technology that is available to help them live productive
lives.
Kirkwood's dimly lit study is cluttered with a variety of technological equipment that helps her do schoolwork and adjust to everyday activities.
She uses a Zoomtext screen enlarger that magnifies print, a Perkins Braille writer and a voice synthesizer that attach to her computer, a tape recorder, and a talking clock and calculator.
Other blind students rely on equipment offered by the University.
"KU does provide certain machinery, but it is often outdated and inefficient," Kirkwood said. The group recently presented the Student Assistance Center with a list of higher-quality machines that it wants to replace the
old ones on campus.
The center serves as a campus advocate for blind students, offering help and acting as a liaison between the students and the administration.
Speaking out and preparing themselves now, while in college, are key factors to job success, Kirkwood said, especially since the unemployment rate among the blind is about 70 percent, according to a federation study.
"Self-sufficiency is very important," she said. "We can't be totally dependent on seeing-eye dogs and canes if we can help it. The blind run into problems with overkill by appearing helpless. We get dragged across the street by helpful people, whether we're
going that way or not."
National and state organizations, like the federation and the American Council for the Blind, provide alternatives for the visually impaired to help them become more self-sufficient.
Before college, Kirkwood studied at the Louisiana Center for the Blind to help her adjust to college life in the States after attending high school in Germany.
In Louisiana, she was taught to cook dinner,water-ski and find her way back to certain locations after being driven around. She also was taught to read Braille.
"It really built my confidence knowing I can do all those things, and more, by myself," she said.
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LIFESTYLE • K-you • October 11, 1993