MUSKOGEE, Okla. — Nearly 150,000 Oklahomans deal with a visual disability, but a group of students in Muskogee show there’s still plenty they can do.
2 News' Naomi Keitt went to the Oklahoma School for the Blind to see how a unique competition is spotlighting blind and visually impaired students.
Julie Cisneros has her game face on as she sees if weeks of practice will pay off, “Even though I’ve been doing this for years, it’s always nerve-wracking to do it."
She has her guide nearby and a volunteer grading her as well. It’s all a part of the 12th annual Oklahoma Region Cane Quest.
“I need to do this because it can help me so I don’t have to depend on my vision all the time if I’m going walking,” said Cisneros.
She has nystagmus, which causes her eyes to shake at times, such as when she’s nervous or there are loud noises, like in traffic.
“The cane kind of helps me guide where I need to go,” said Cisneros.
She’s conquering the sidewalks of downtown Muskogee, as other younger students take on the stairs and the hallways.
You'll see a guide by each of their sides. More than 80 people, including Natalie Armstrong, volunteered for this role.
Along with her guide duties, she made sure students had a lot of great prizes to win.
“I thought kids they work really hard all year for this specific thing so I thought they deserve a lot of prizes and their pick of how many prizes they can get,” said Natalie Armstrong.
She got a $1,000 grant which helped her fill up the tables as students were awarded for acing these valuable skills.
“It’s an opportunity for our kids to demonstrate their skills of orientation and mobility,” said Faye Miller.
With more than eight million Americans dealing with a vision disability and nearly 150,000 Oklahomans with the same issue, Faye Miller says the competition helps students show their proficiency with the cane and also show the public what they can do.
“We also want them to see how many skills our students have and to raise their expectations of all individuals who have a visual impairment,” said Miller.
More than 40 students took part in the competition at the Oklahoma School for the Blind.
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