[nagdu] Blindness can't hold Chad Rohr back

[Ginger Kutsch]

Blindness can't hold Chad Rohr back

By Rob Roberts, rroberts at lsjournal.com 

Lee's Summit Journal, 

URL:
http://www.lsjournal.com/2011/07/20/70065/blindness-cant-hold-chad-rohr.html

 

Lee's Summit resident Chad Rohr, who has been blind since an
all-terrain-vehicle accident almost eight years ago, is attending college
and teaching adaptive technology at Alphapointe, an organization that works
with the blind and visually impaired. He is pictured with his guide dog,
Caddy.

 

It's not possible to meet Chad Rohr, a 20-year-old Lee's Summit resident,
without meeting Caddy, his golden retriever for the past three years.

 

During that time, Caddy has accompanied Rohr to classes at the University of
Central Missouri, where he has been working toward a degree in social work.
And this summer, the dog has been by Rohr's side at work.

 

That's because Caddy is a guide dog, and Rohr has been totally blind for
almost eight years. 

 

An all-terrain vehicle accident that occurred shortly after Rohr's 13th
birthday caused a traumatic brain injury that left him in comas - one was
drug-induced by his doctors - for 17 days. And when Rohr finally woke up in
a hospital bed, he thought it was nighttime.

 

After learning he was blind, Rohr recalled, he went through a period of
despondency. But by the second semester of that school year, he was back in
class at Bernard Campbell Middle School. He also went on to compete in shot
put and discus for Lee's Summit High School. He earned his Eagle Scout
award. And, with help from Caddy and others, he entered college and the
workforce.

 

"For a while, I asked 'Why me?'" Rohr said. "But since then, I've just tried
to stay positive. No one wants to be around someone who isn't positive. If
you're going to have a pity party, you are going to be the only one there."

 

Rohr was speaking from behind his desk at Alphapointe, a Kansas City
nonprofit that serves about 4,000 Missourians who are blind or visually
impaired. Rader, who has received employment and college-preparatory
training at Alphapointe, recently received a paid internship from the
organization. In that capacity, he is teaching clients adaptive technology,
which allows them to use computers through magnification or, in the case of
blind clients, keyboards that speak.

 

"Chad is an exceptional young man," said Clay Berry, Alphapointe's director
of education and rehabilitation. "Often, even the congenitally blind
struggle to keep up. But despite Chad's vision loss at a young age, he
stayed on grade level and graduated with his (high school). I think that
says a lot about him as a person and the support he has received from his
family."

 

The son of Dean and Kim Rohr, Chad first met Berry when Chad enrolled as a
15-year-old in the Student Transitional Employment Program, an eight-week
program at Alphapointe. The training allowed him to hold down his first
summer job, a summer internship at Powell Gardens, where he did everything
from potting plants to working in the administration building.

 

"The next summer, we did some college preparatory work with Chad that
centered around adaptive technology to ensure he could use the computer
effectively," Berry said.

 

Rohr, a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, will be a junior at UCM in
the fall. And as he enters the stretch run toward his college diploma, he is
thinking of changing his major to communications. "I'd like to do what I'm
doing now, helping people with adaptive technology," Rohr said.

 

His fingers flew across the keyboard as he gave a demonstration. And that
was another demonstration of how far Rohr has come since the ATV accident,
which also left him partially paralyzed on his left side. "Right after the
accident," he said, "my left hand was affected so much that I had to use a
one-handed keyboard."

 

In addition to becoming a proficient typist, Rohr also has mastered Braille.
He demonstrated that skill last month at a Kansas City Library branch, where
he volunteered to read for a group of amazed children. About his only
regret, Rohr said, is that he has to depend on others to get him places. But
he prefers to dwell on positive aspects of his life. It easily could have
been cut short following his accident, which required surgeons to
temporarily remove a chunk of his skull until his brain swelling went down,
he said. "Really, I'm a lucky guy," Rohr said.