Santa Ana’s Beyond Blindness helps the vision impaired go above and beyond
Eleven-year-old Mason Lopes likes things most kids his age like: milkshakes, basketball and Lady Gaga.
“You know what my favorite song is?” he asks with a contagious giggle. “Born This Way!”
Mason was born with some challenges that affect his life. Mason has cerebral palsy, and before his first year his mother, Charissa Lopes, said they realized his vision was impaired.
“We found out he was blind when he was 5 month old,” said Lopes. “I mean, it is scary to find out that your kid is going to be blind and you don’t know what the future is going to hold for them.”
However, through the help of Santa Ana-based Beyond Blindness, Mason’s optic nerve hypoplasia has not stopped him from accomplishing major milestones.
“We came here, and immediately we felt like we were at home and so supported,” said Lopes. “They made us feel so welcome and that everything was going to be OK.”
Mason’s first steps and first words resulted from the support provided by the team at Beyond Blindness.
“We rely so much on our sight as adults, and when you think of kids who are developing … your ABCs and your 123s, kids learn all of that from looking at books and pictures,” said Lopes. “We were able to come to Beyond Blindness and have people who specialize in children who can’t see and to give them those tactile cues, to motivate them.”
Beyond Blindness is a nonprofit dedicated to empowering children with visual impairments and other disabilities to achieve their fullest potential. Services offered include early intervention, education and enrichment as well as family support.
The Lopes family found their way to Beyond Blindness when the director at the time invited them to the organization’s annual Destination Independence 5k Walk. Lopes and her husband attended the walk with their extended family and instantly felt a sense of relief.
“Just to see the kids running around and playing, and yes, they are blind and yes, they have disabilities, but they are just typical kids doing normal things and having fun,” Lopes said. “It was the beacon of light in this very dark moment.”
Lopes said she realized that Beyond Blindness might be able to provide the missing piece from the care they received from optometrists and doctors.
“To be honest, having a child who is blind is so low incident that pediatricians and doctors are not skilled to work with kids specifically like that,” said Lopes. “And you come into Beyond Blindness and immediately you see the entire place is set up to work with kids who are blind and visually impaired, and you can’t find that anywhere.”
Beyond Blindness formerly operated as the Blind Children’s Learning Center, but recently unveiled their new name and branding, which more accurately represents the organization’s evolution.
“For nearly 60 years, Blind Children’s Learning Center has prepared children with visual impairments for a life of independence,” said Angie Rowe, president and executive director at Beyond Blindness. “Our new name signifies our evolution and expansion to serve and positively impact a wider population of children with visual impairments and other disabilities and their families.”
Originally founded in 1962, Beyond Blindness continues to grow. The organization served more than 300 Orange County children and their families last year alone.
But as Rowe mentioned, the needs of the families they serve has changed and the group is committed to meeting that change.
“Over the last five to 10 years, the conditions that caused single visibility blindness and visual impairment, like retinopathy of prematurity and some of the other diseases, they have developed gene therapies and other interventions to intervene at a younger age, restoring vision,” said Rowe. “We have now evolved into an agency that is serving kids who have visual impairments but also other disabilities.”
Rowe points out that when 80% of early learning is from vision, a child that has other disabilities, like autism or cerebral palsy, needs a teacher who can take a holistic approach.
“I think Mason is a prime example of a child that came to us with multiple disabilities,” said Rowe.
For almost all of Mason’s life, Beyond Blindness teachers and specialists have given him Braille instruction, occupational therapy, speech therapy and more. Their orientation and mobility specialist also taught him how to become more familiar with his environment and surroundings, helping him to stay safe while still having the freedom to play and explore.
“Now Mason is a super engaging kid,” said Rowe.
Mason has aged out of the onsite classrooms, but he and his family are still involved in education and enrichment and family support programs at Beyond Blindness. The skills he continues to gain help him live a life that allows him to enjoy sailing, horseback riding and playing the piano. Mason is able to play many songs after hearing them just one time, tapping out “Happy Birthday” and even “Shallow.” (He is a Gaga stan, after all.)
Currently, Mason is in a home-schooling program that still provides teachers of students with visual impairments and orientation and mobility instruction.
Besides being a helpful resource for the vision impaired and their families, Beyond Blindness provides another important service often overlooked by connecting the vision impaired with other young people with the same challenges.
“We are here to help on the journey and help with building connections,” said Rowe.
October is Blindness Awareness Month, with awareness being raised through education and advocacy with the goal of bringing a focus to the realities of living without sight.
They are realities Lopes said she wishes more people would acknowledge.
“Just being out in society, just doing our day to day stuff, people make comments, people look, people stare, and so depending on the day that can be really hard. Especially, if I am already having a tough day,” said Lopes. “Like any Mom, I just want people to love him and accept him.”
Lopes said it’s also important for parents to talk to their own kids.
“I wish more people would have conversations with their children,” said Lopes. “Just because a child looks different, acts different, can’t talk like you do or walk like you do, it doesn’t make them weird. It just makes them unique, and we are all unique. Teach kids to just be friendly and kind to each other regardless.”
Though Lopes said unkindness is not a common experience for her family. “I always say Mason’s super power is attracting angels into his life.”
Like the lyrics of Mason’s favorite song, most people recognize he is beautiful in his way.
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