[nagdu] Blind GMU graduate achieves his dream

[Ginger Kutsch]

Blind GMU graduate achieves his dream
 
By Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post staff writer
Saturday, May 15, 2010; B01 
 
Long before sunrise Friday, Mario Bonds was on the second floor
of his home in Bowie, ironing a green graduation gown, fitting
his cap and talking to his guide dog, an English Lab named
Sidney, about how special the day was going to be. 
 
"You are going to walk across that stage. It is time to go to
work," Bonds, 22, said as he sprinted down a flight of steps and
grabbed his dog's harness in preparation for the trek to George
Mason University to receive his bachelor's degree in broadcast
journalism. 
 
But Bonds, who is blind, forgot one important thing. In his
excitement, he had not closed the door of a downstairs closet,
and he crashed into it. Janice Dupree, one of Bonds's "two
mothers," couldn't resist calling him a "big baby." 
 
His graduation was the proud culmination of a struggle that began
in infancy. 
 
Bonds is a triplet in a family of 10 children. His mother died of
a brain aneurysm when he was 5 months old. His father has been in
prison most of the father's life. 
 
Bonds was born with morning glory syndrome, a disease that
attacks the optic nerve, and went blind when he was 8. He has
been shuttled among emergency shelters, cheap motels, public
housing and, finally, the home offered by the Duprees, the
parents of a high school classmate. 
 
Despite his hardships, Bonds has been a leader. When he was at
Suitland High School, in Prince George's County, he served as a
counselor and teacher during a technology summer camp by the
Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind. He is an accomplished singer
and piano player who has more than 1 million hits on YouTube. 
 
"Our family was quite destitute all my life, so I used education
and music to deal with the dysfunction," he said. 
 
As Bonds waited for a cab to Bethesda -- where his other
"mother," retired Fairfax County teacher Michele Weil, would take
him to GMU's Patriot Center -- he summarized his feeling in Sarah
McLachlan's song "Angel." 
 
"You are pulled from the wreckage, of your silent reverie, you're
in the arms of the angel, may you find some comfort here," he
sang in a strong tenor. 
 
Bonds credits his grandmother, Johnnie Mae Bonds, for not
allowing him to be placed in a special school. In a 2004
Washington Post story she said, "He don't have a disability. . .
. He's blind. He has a good brain." 
 
About five years ago, Dupree took in the Bonds triplets, Mario
and his two sisters. Her son had told her about a young man in
the high school choir who didn't have a place to stay. She said
that although the sisters stayed for about two weeks, their
brother remained because he wanted stability in his senior year. 
 
"It has been a struggle," Dupree said. "When he first moved here,
he suffered from headaches, which were due from stress." 
 
Weil had met Bonds years earlier, when his family moved to
Fairfax County, and she became his mobility instructor, teaching
him to use a cane and walk with a guide dog. "They were homeless
and moved into a hotel. He called me from the Breezeway Motel,"
Weil said. 
 
One day in middle school, Bonds and other blind students went to
the campus of George Mason on a field trip. "From age 12, I knew
that this was going to be my school," Bonds said. 
 
Although Bonds doesn't have his immediate family, he has
developed a support network that includes MetroAccess drivers,
taxi drivers, friends and a few cousins. 
 
In addition to making good on his GMU dream, he is a program
assistant in the civil rights office of the U.S. Department of
Transportation. He also is the minister of music at Mt.
Zion-Warren United Methodist Church in Dickerson. 
 
On Friday, Bonds never stopped smiling as he and Sidney walked
across the stage at GMU; 13 of his relatives were in the
audience. 
 
Bonds said that although he has "a small amount of bitterness"
because he can't see, it is overcome by joy. "It's emotional to
me, because 85 percent of working-age blind adults are
unemployed. It is a big deal to me that more than 50 percent of
blind high school students don't graduate or go to college," he
said. 
 
"The bitterness stems from how difficult this has been because
there are still problems with the level of services the visually
impaired still get," Bonds said. "I had to work through those
problems but at the same time trying to make sure I got adequate
grades to get to this day." 
 

Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/14/A
R2010051405337_pf.html