The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Ed. 1 Thursday, February 5, 1981 Page: 4 of 8
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Page 4 The J-TAC February 5,1981
Blind coeds meet challenges
byMaryRucker
Flashing lights, unfamiliar
shapes that loom form darkened
corners, voices speaking from
unrecognizable faces while floors
dissappear as you walk. Does
this sound like something from a
mid-way spookhouse? It's not,
it's a way of life for two TSU
coeds.
Dana and Laura Cunningham,
senior elementary education ma-
jors at TSU are termed legally
blind. They have a disease called
retinitas pigmentosa. This
disease is hereditary and causes
the pigment on the inside of the
retina to detatch and float around
in the eye until it reattatches
itself over the rods and combs of
the eye blocking the light.
Although they were born with this
condition, it has not-worsened
over the years. At 22 years old,
they havethesame amount of vi-
sion today, that they had at birth.
Dana and Laura graduated
from a school for the blind in
Austin. When making a decison
about colleges to attend, they
leaned toward TSU because
several family members had at-
tended TSU, and because of it's
smaller size. "I have a fear of be-
ing lost in a strange place," said
Dana, "in one day, with the help
of our aunt, we knew our way
around campus pretty well."
TSU does not have the facilities
to accomodate blind people. But
this in itself is not a real handicap
for the girls. "One day I was
walking in front of the girls
dorm," remembered Dana, "so-
meone had left those grates open
and I almost fell in one. But a
perfectly sighted person could
have done the same thing.
Negligence is a problem for
everyone."
Getting through college is
tough for most people, but to start
off with at least one strike against
you makes the odds of failure
high. Dana will graduate in May
of this year and Laura will follow
her in August. When asked what
they would do after graduation,
they admitted to being in the
deciding stages. They both want
to get their viaul handicap en-
dorsements so that they can
teach other children with pro-
blems similar to their own.
Attitudes of people toward
them brought some surprising
comments from the girls. "Peo-
ple are afraid of what they don't
understand," said Laura. "It's
not only us, it's all handicaps.
People are not generally exposed
to them," added Dana, "thus
they have misconceptions of what
we are like."
Another problem that Laura
and Dana run into, is the typical
classroom situations. Things
that most people take for
granted, like taking notes and
reading from the boards are ma-
jor problems for. them. "I have
been known to interrupt a teacher
and ask him what he just put on
the board," said Dana. " Most of
the time, and with only a couple
of exceptions," added Laura,"the
teachers and staff have been
great!"
The girls are very independent
arid although they are twins and
suffer from the same handicap,
are not dependent upon each
other for companionship or enter-
tainment. Laura lives in the
dorm, while Dana lives off cam-
pus, "We fight and get on each
other's nerves,"Laura explain-
ed, "we live seperate because we
both have our own friends, and
seperate activities." Although
they live seperately, the girls
participate in many of the same
extra-curricular activities. They
are both active members of the
BSU, and Dana was at one time
on the executive council there.
Laura and Dana are both
bright and interesting people to
talk with, and wished that one
point be made to the general stu-
dent body about their situation. A
condencment of this thought, was
that although they are blind, they
are people just like anyone else.
They are as dependent or in-
dependent as they let themselves
be. They are no less people
Texas Office of Traffic Safety
Cont, on pg. 5
On Feb.9 of 10 years ago, an
earthquake in Southern
California killed 64 persons and
caused damage in excess of $1
billion.
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The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Ed. 1 Thursday, February 5, 1981, newspaper, February 5, 1981; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth141468/m1/4/: accessed July 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Tarleton State University.