[nfbmi-talk] Blind Woman Wants to Be TV News Anchor

[Fred Wurtzel]

Great Story, wonder if Commission is helping?

 

Blind MSU graduate wants to become news anchor

Louise Knott Ahern . lkahern at lsj.com . November 22, 2010

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EAST LANSING - As a little girl in a

Chinese

 orphanage, Hope Springstead had a dream that was as fantastical as it was
innocent:

That one day an American couple would swoop in like heroes from a fairy tale
and

rescue her. It's what all the girls in the orphanage dreamed of, she said,
even if

none of them really believed it would happen.

Especially not Hope. After all, she often wondered, who would want to adopt
a blind

girl?

Someone did. And the little girl with no memory of how she lost her sight or
why

her birth mother abandoned her in a train station was whisked away to

the United States

. It was, she said, an impossible dream come true.

Now, Hope is a 23-year-old recent graduate of

Michigan State University

. And she has another dream - to become the first blind news anchor in the
U.S.

"My experiences have made me so much stronger," she said. "I would love to
break

that barrier."

Technology a help

In a studio in the MSU School of Journalism, a pair of small $25 lights sat
on an

anchor desk.

Hidden from view underneath, a student with a pencil crouched next to Hope's
legs.

When the cue came through the headset, the student tapped Hope on the leg.

One of the lights flashed.

Hope followed it with her limited vision - she can see very bright flashes
of light

- and ended up looking straight into the camera.

The words of the script came to her through her fingertips as they traced
the rapidly

rising bumps of her Braille reader - a technological wonder that works like
a laptop,

only without a monitor. And instead of a mouse pad is a thin membrane that
produces

the Braille.

The experimental setup in one of Hope's journalism classes last year was the
brainchild

of one of her teachers, Troy Hale.

Making it happen

As Hope recalled, he was the first person to tell her that her disability
didn't

have to stop her from following her dream.

"I think she can do anything she sets her mind to," Hale said. "She started
out in

a radio class and she did well. When she said she wanted to be a TV
reporter, I said,

'Well, let's see how we can make this happen.' I don't believe in putting
barriers

in front of everyone."

(2 of 2)

But is the industry ready to adopt the same attitude?

That's a firm maybe, said Doug Spade, a former state legislator who worked
in radio

for nearly 30 years.

He's also blind.

"There are very few visually impaired people in broadcasting, so that can
make it

more challenging," said Spade, 59. "But that doesn't mean she can't do it. I
believe

there are people out there who are willing to take a chance if she can prove
that

she has the drive and the talent to do it."

Drive has never been a problem.

Because if there's anything Hope learned in childhood, it's that she won't
to listen

to people who say it can't be done.

Pieces of the past

There are times, however, when even she gets frustrated because there are so
many

things she doesn't know about her own life.

"I don't have much of a medical history," said Hope, who now lives in
Wyandotte.

"I don't know how I lost my sight."

She does remember one thing very clearly. And it both troubles and motivates
her.

Hope remembers holding her mother's hand. She remembers a long walk that
went on

forever. Then, there was a bustling, loud train station.

And then sitting. Just sitting. Until her mother leaned over and said she
had to

go check on something.

Hope's mother left and never came back. Hope sat alone in the train station
until

she fell asleep on the floor.

Later, a policeman woke her up. He took her hand and tried to lead her away.

"I said, 'No. I can't go. I'm waiting for my mom,' " Hope said. "The next
thing I

remember, I was in a place with a lot of other kids."

She was 4 years old.

Years passed, and the dreams of being rescued were starting to fade.

But then her adoptive parents - Brenda and Matthew Springstead of Wyandotte
- saw

Hope on a Christian documentary about the orphanage.

The adoption took several months to go through, and her parents eventually
adopted

another little girl from the same orphanage, Hope's sister, Kate.

Hope knows her dream is a stretch. Journalism is an industry that depends on
a reporter's

every sense to get a story.

But Hope said determination and creativity have taken her a long way. Now,
she just

needs someone to take a chance on her.

"I've always been one to adapt and overcome," Hope said.

Other plans

Six months after graduating, Hope still does not have a job in journalism.
She has

interviewed for some public relations and writing positions. She's also
preparing

to take her LSAT, an exam necessary to get into

law school

.

Just in case.

Someday, Hope wants to return to China to open an orphanage for little girls
like

she once was.

Whether she achieves her broadcasting dreams or not, Hope thinks she has a
mission

in life.

"I just want to do what I can to make a difference in the world," she said.
"I believe

that's why I'm here."