[NFBMD] Blind side: Visually impaired Taneytown native has a radio show, teaches as he prepares for college

Thu Aug 17 09:08:28 UTC 2017

Congratulations! I look forward to welcoming the newest member of our Federation family soon.

Chris Nusbaum

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 16, 2017, at 8:43 PM, mr. Chikodinaka Nickarandidum Oguledo via NFBMD <nfbmd at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
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> my wife Adonnih Happiness Oguledo is expecting our first Child
> together mee and my wife babygirl Obianuju! tochukwuThezih Oguledo I
> cant wait 2b a father in December 2017 my Christmas gift
> 
>> On 8/16/17, White, Scott via NFBMD <nfbmd at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Blind side: Visually impaired Taneytown native has a radio show, teaches as
>> he prepares for college
>> 
>> Chris Nusbaum
>> Chris Nusbaum of Taneytown laughs as he records jokes on his phone in the
>> gathering room at Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning (BELL)
>> Academy at the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore on Thursday,
>> August 3, 2017. (Jen Rynda/Baltimore Sun Media Group)
>> Lisa Gregory
>> 
>> Oh, the questions he has been asked and the stories he can tell. And as a
>> visually impaired person, 19-year-old Chris Nusbaum, has always responded to
>> those questions with grace and good humor. Sometimes even with a maturity
>> far beyond his years.
>> 
>> "I remember on the school bus a kid asked me if blind people got married,"
>> said Nusbaum. "I said: 'Yes, of course. I know blind people who are married
>> and have kids.' Then he asked me, 'But how do you know if she's pretty?'
>> What a great example of the middle school mindset, huh? I replied, 'I may
>> not know what she looks like on the outside, but I do on the inside and
>> that's what really counts.' "
>> 
>> According to Nusbaum, there are no wrong questions. Better to ask than not,
>> offering an opportunity to educate and inform. And, "I think I have heard
>> them all," he said. An especially frequent one is whether his other senses
>> are heightened because of his blindness. The answer is no. "I don't have
>> superhuman hearing," said Nusbaum, grinning.
>> 
>> Nusbaum is confident and comfortable in his own skin. Political correctness
>> aside, he will tell you, "I have no problem calling myself a blind person; I
>> am a blind person."
>> 
>> But not just a blind person. Nusbaum is a gifted musician and singer, the
>> host of an internet radio show, a talented writer, an advocate for the
>> blind, an adored son and a good friend. "It's not that blind people can't do
>> things," he said. "It's just that we do them differently."
>> 
>> Nusbaum, who is from Taneytown, was born nine weeks early. As a result, he
>> developed a version of retinopathy of prematurity, which causes abnormal
>> blood vessels to grow in the retina and can result in the retina detaching
>> from the back of the eye.
>> 
>> His mother, Wendy Messersmith, remembers several months after his birth
>> going on a vacation in the Outer Banks and "falling apart," she said. "I
>> kept thinking he will never see this beautiful sunrise or this beautiful
>> sunset. I cried. I had my pity party. Then I raised my child."
>> 
>> She and her then-husband Mike Nusbaum discovered the National Federation of
>> the Blind (NFB) and the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children.
>> And she reached out to others through an online support group. "From early
>> on I was guided by some wonderful people," she said. Messersmith
>> specifically remembers the laundry basket and Hula-Hoop suggestions. "A
>> blind child doesn't know that their toy is there so they don't reach for
>> it," she said. "So, trying to teach crawling and walking were very
>> difficult."
>> 
>> Then someone from the online group suggested she put her son in a laundry
>> basket. "Now the toy couldn't get out of his way," said Messersmith. And
>> when he was a bit older and needed more exploratory room it was suggested
>> she use a Hula-Hoop. "When the toy hit the Hula-Hoop it didn't move," she
>> said. "This advice came from parents who had been there, done that."
>> 
>> In fact, Nusbaum is now part of that same online group. "I am answering some
>> of the same questions my mother asked for me," he said.
>> 
>> One message from the group was consistent though. "Don't hold them back,"
>> said Messersmith. "These kids need to be prepared to be on their own at some
>> point."
>> 
>> Nusbaum was a bright and inquisitive child who loved the radio. When most
>> children were watching cartoons, he was listening to talk radio. "I
>> pretended I had my own radio show and really thought I would grow up and do
>> that," he said. And while he plans to be a teacher working with blind
>> students, he has for the past several years hosted an internet radio show
>> called "The Blind Side" that focuses on blind issues.
>> 
>> By the time he had enrolled at Runnymede Elementary, Nusbaum, who had a
>> one-on-one aide and a teacher of the visually impaired, began to realize he
>> was different. "During recess on the playground the other kids would be in
>> these little groups, and I would be alone," he recalled. "I tried to
>> understand why that was."
>> 
>> "Chris didn't realize he was blind," said Messersmith. "I told him: 'Chris,
>> it is what it is. Yeah, there are days it's going to suck and times that
>> it's not.' " Then with the sharp wit her son has inherited she said, "The
>> only things I suggested he not choose to be is a pilot or a cab driver. But
>> other than that, I told him the world was open to him."
>> 
>> And he set about embracing it. An avid reader, as an 8-year-old he traveled
>> to Los Angeles to compete in the Braille Challenge, an academic contest. He
>> even made an appearance on Nickelodeon, participating in a segment on "Out
>> of Sight: How Blind Kids See the World." And he made friends. In fact,
>> "Everyone should have a friend like Chris," said Ari Lipka, who has known
>> Nusbaum since first grade. The two often enjoyed going to the movies
>> together with Lipka providing the commentary of what was happening on the
>> screen.
>> 
>> Nusbaum also has a natural affinity for music. "He can hear a song once and
>> then play it back to you," said his mother. He was active in chorus during
>> school and recently entertained fellow travelers with an impromptu
>> performance on a cruise ship during a visit to Alaska.
>> 
>> Six years ago came a life-changing event for Nusbaum. He discovered the NFB
>> on his own terms. He had had exposure to the organization early on, when his
>> parents would attend events. However, Nusbaum's own involvement with NFB
>> changed when he attended the NFB Leadership and Advocacy in Washington,
>> D.C., program in 2011. He specifically recalls a meeting with a
>> representative of former Congressman Roscoe Bartlett's office and a
>> discussion about the Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind. In an article,
>> he wrote for The Braille Monitor, Nusbaum, said, "At that moment I thought I
>> want to be a part of this (NFB). Here was an organization in which I could
>> help fight discrimination and increase opportunities for all the blind."
>> 
>> Since then, Nusbaum has served on the board of the National Association of
>> Blind Students and served as president of the Maryland Association of Blind
>> Students. He is also one of the founders of the Carroll County chapter of
>> NFB.
>> 
>> And he enjoys working with the NFB Braille Enrichment for Literacy and
>> Learning program, which provides children with concentrated Braille
>> instruction during the summer.
>> 
>> "I think Chris has the heart for leadership," said Mark Riccobono, president
>> of the NFB.
>> 
>> This spring, Nusbaum, who graduated in 2016 from Francis Scott Key High
>> School where he was a member of the National Honor Society, returned from
>> nine months at the Louisiana Center for the Blind, a residential training
>> facility. This was done in preparation for him going to college this fall.
>> He will be only the second blind student to attend Lynchburg College in
>> Virginia.
>> 
>> And as he prepares for the next phase of his life, he says he wouldn't
>> change anything. Nusbaum is often asked if he had the opportunity to see
>> would he choose to do so.
>> 
>> "Without hesitation, I wouldn't take it," he said. "Having been blind all my
>> life, I have become used to life as a blind person. I wouldn't have it any
>> other way."
>> 
>> Copyright (c) 2017, Carroll County Times, a Baltimore Sun Media Group
>> publication
>> http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/neighborhoods/cc-nh-nusbaum-profile-20170808-story.html
>> 
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> 
> -- 
> for if you persavear. you will conker never fear. try try try again
> 
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