Courtney Smith is a 13-year-old girl, who is visually impaired. She was born 26 weeks gestation, 12 weeks before their due date. At the age of 4 months, she was diagnosed with Retinopathy of Prematurity. Taylor, her twin sister was also diagnosed with Retinopathy of Prematurity but her disease regressed. But the disease progressed in Courtney resulting in blindness. Courtney had undergone many surgeries to retain some of her remaining eyesight, but they were unsuccessful. She lives with her mother and father, an older brother, her twin sister and a younger brother. She lives with her family on a farm in Palermo, ND. Her family is very supportive of her, they never tell her she couldn’t do anything because she is blind. In fact, her family “makes” her do chores she sometimes doesn’t want to do.

Typical teenage girl.
Courtney is a very energetic, typical teenage girl. She enjoys singing, visiting with her friends, going to the mall, snowboarding and many things a teenage girl enjoys. After interviewing Courtney, she of course knows of her disability but doesn’t let her disability keep her from doing what she wants to do. In her free time, she enjoys reading Braille books, singing, listening to music (which her favorite music is Country), and hanging out with her friends. Chores are not her favorite but she does clean her bird’s cage, makes her bed, helps wash dishes and washes the door handles in the home. Courtney is very involved with 4H; she has projects such as plants, making of a phone book, cookie jars, and first aid kits. She explained how she does these projects with help from others but she is the one that needs to explain to the judges how the project was done and what she learned from the project.

Courtney also likes to ride bike, she explained that she only rides on the cement but she has the timing down knowing when to turn the bike. She likes to jump on the trampoline. She use to like to ride horse until she got on a horse that she felt went to fast and she wasn’t sure what was going to happen. She likes to be in control of the situations.

Courtney also loves to work with dad in the field. She enjoys hauling hay, riding in the tractor and combine. Spending time with her grandparents is also a joy. Her Grandma makes her folds clothes and she doesn’t enjoy that at all. She cooks TV dinners by a talking microwave. Her dad was giving her a cooking lesson with a frying pan, that I guess, it didn’t turn out so great but Courtney will be trying again.

Courtney loves to sing. She has recorded three CDs starting at the age of 7. Her last CD was recorded in Nashville, TN. Because of her love for music, she has a private singing coach. Her coach, along with others such as mom, help Courtney with the lyrics. Courtney told me that she memorizes the lyrics to the songs by listening to them. She also at times uses Braille to learn the lyrics. She has performed in front of thousands of people at very young ages and has received awards from VSArts of ND. She was picked to represent her state of ND. I have watched Courtney perform when in front of an audience and she is very confident in her abilities which she should be, she is very good. Courtney can sense an audience in front of her. She says she can feel to energy from the audience and that encourages her to perform. She loves it.

Courtney loves to shop. She buys the clothes that feel nice. Courtney has help picking out the colors and matching her clothing usually by family members. She explained that people tell her to colors of the clothes and even though she hasn’t seen colors, she can identify them by what that color might feel like. Blues being a cool color and reds being a warm color are some of the examples given.

Courtney senses are much heightened. She can sense if someone is in front of her. She uses clicking in unfamiliar settings to get the sonic sounds from the buildings or people. Once she is familiar with a setting, she doesn’t like using it. She counts steps or uses timing to determine where she is and where she needs to go.

I interviewed not only Courtney but all of her immediate family members, her parents, older brother, twin sister and younger brother. Life at home is pretty “normal”. All of her siblings didn’t think of Courtney has disabled. Her younger brother commented on a time she tripped on the vacuum and wasn’t concern because Courtney was laughing and so was he. When living in a home of six people, there can be many obstacles in your way such as shoes, school bags and everyday life . Her younger brother helps Courtney paint her nails, style her hair and one time slide down the stairs in a clothes basket. Her older brother makes sure that she does her chores, even feeding cattle. This is one of the chores Courtney doesn’t like but according to her siblings, just because she’s blind she has to do chores like us all. Her twin sister reported to us that there are conflicts between Courtney and she at times, even though they get along majority of the time, having Courtney do her chores can cause a little frustration between them. They don’t treat Courtney any differently although they all know that she needs help with certain things.

School life for Courtney.
Courtney is shadowed by an aide, Julie Fulton. Her aide explained some of her job duties with us. Ms. Fulton helps Courtney with organization, reading worksheets and tests, writes for her, helps with homework, turns worksheets into Braille, makes sure she is in the right area in her textbooks (which happen to be in Braille), helps her get to the lunch table and just shadowing her. When Courtney does arts, Mrs. Fulton pops up the black lines so Courtney can follow her art work. When Courtney is at lunch, she goes through the lunch line like everyone else. The cooks at the school describe to Courtney what is available at lunch and then Courtney chooses. After she is done eating, which she sits with her classmates, she is responsible to clean her tray. Ms. Fulton helps Courtney get prepared for recess, other than that she is on her own during recess. Courtney visits with her friends and plays games at recess. Walking around the school, Courtney uses a cane. Courtney is a very positive person, according to Ms. Fulton, and her friends really enjoy her. Courtney knows how to Braille. She uses a computer to help take notes, and scans papers she needs to put into Braille. Phy Ed can be a struggle. Courtney has an alternate phy ed curriculum. She runs and uses a “peanut shaped” ball to do her exercises. At times, Courtney uses the help of high school students to be evolved with some games that are played in phy ed. According to Ms. Fulton, and Courtney’s parents, that Courtney is a straight A student. Her parents feel that she is an perfectionist and is on top of her homework and does what is necessary to succeed. Mom recalls a time when dad was helping Courtney with her homework and dad forgot the periods behind the sentences she was dictating to him, she received a grade that was unacceptable to her. From the conversation, Courtney had a long discussion with dad about her expectations. Dad replied “Well I guess you won’t have me help you anymore, maybe you should do it yourself.” I believe Courtney did.

Courtney rides the school buses to go to school. Sometimes the bus driver needs to remind people to get out of the aisle so she can get by. This is one of her frustrations. Another frustration to Courtney is when the teachers leave the classroom doors open in the hallways. She has bumped into them numerous times. Her parents and Courtney feel that the school has been very supportive of her and communicates well with them. The school handles the needs of their daughter.

Courtney would like to play basketball like her sister. I was surprised by Courtney answer when asked what stops you from playing. She replied “I’m afraid that I wouldn’t make the basket.” It wasn’t her disability stopping her, she was afraid of not making the basket. I was really impressed with this answer.

Courtney loves to travel. She talked about the airplanes that she rode in. She told me that she was thrilled to find out the airplane instruction were in Braille. She finds that in bigger cities there is more Braille available. In a small town, there isn’t as much Braille. Her parents have the menus from the local establishments and are putting the menus in Braille. Courtney has people read the menu to her and then she decides what to order. She used sighted guides and a cane to walk around. Her mother explained to me that some of her pet peeves while in public are when people stare and don’t come up to talk to her because of her disability. Or when people drive by and wave at her. Some people are impatient and will cut in front of her and almost knock her down. Another pet peeve is when they don’t talk in an appropriate voice when talking to Courtney. They use baby talk such as potty and do you like to play with your dollies. Her parents reported that younger people are more accepting of Courtney’s disability because they are around it more often, in the classroom and with people with disability. The older generations have a harder time seeing her being independent. They shared with me about their shopping trip and she did not enjoy shopping because people kept bumping into her. Courtney commented that when they usually bump into her, people will apologize over and over again.

Courtney shared with me her future goals. She plans on living in Minneapolis and attending a private college for singing. She also wants to become a lawyer. She plans on living in an apartment. She will be using GPS systems to help motivate in the bigger cities. She also explained that she will use the bus systems, taxi cabs and have someone drive her around. One day she would like to be married and have three children. She will put bells on her children shoes when they are babies to know where they are at. She feels she would have no problems raising children because she is blind. She explained that her hearing was very good. Courtney reported to me that she recognizes voices. She is surprised when people ask her how she recognizes them by not telling her who they are.

My summary from this interview and observation. Courtney is a well round individual and despite her obstacles with her disability, she is very determined in what she wants and can do in life. She has the support of the school and home environment that encourages Courtney do be more independent. In fact, her parents told me that of all of the children at this time, Courtney is probably the most independent. She already has future goals. Her parents commented that Courtney will have no problems being independent because she can communicate and debate very well. I believe Courtney will succeed as well. She is very integrated in the school and community and has many accomplishments and achievements at such as early age. She knows what tools she will need to be successful and what tools she needs to improve in. I enjoyed my visit with this family and they were very helpful.

Written by
Randal Reese