THE  BLIND  3rd GRADER

Once upon a time there was a 3rd grade kid . His name was Henry and he was born blind.

Blind.

Fortunately, for Henry, he had a twin brother, Charlie, who could see.

So in a way Charlie became eyes for Henry.

In Kindergarten Charlie learned  his colors and his numbers.

Numbers were easy - especially basic mathematics.

Charlie helped Henry get his numbers by using golf balls. They lived across the avenue from a golf course - so he went over there - told the manager that his twin brother was blind - and asked if he could he have a few boxes of used golf balls. He said  he could teach his brother math using them.

Charlie said to Henry, "Here's 3 golf balls. Here's 5 golf balls. Put them together and you have 8 golf balls. That's addition. Take away two golf balls and you now have 6. That's subtraction."

Henry got it.

Colors were difficult.

Blue was cold. Charlie taught Henry the color blue with ice cubes. 

Charlie taught the color red with hot water. It takes fire to heat up the water. 

Charlie used blades of grass to teach Henry about the color green.

Charlie taught his brother Henry what brown was like.  Brown was a football. 

White was paper. 

Black was a can of shoe polish - but don’t open it up - especially on a hot day. It was the color of night.

Yellow was a banana. Yellow was a yo yo. Why yellow for a yo yo? Well Charlie told his twin brother that this particular yo yo he was using was yellow and both yellow and yo yo begin with y.

It was complicated - but Henry got his colors.

Teachers were amazed at how much Henry learned because of his twin brother Charlie.

Of course blind people can learn a lot by listening, tasting, touching, and bumping into things.

If your eyes don't work, blind people tell us that their ears can become much sharper than those who have eyes.

By the time Henry and Charlie were in the 3rd grade they were both getting lots of A's and B's.

Charlie's mom and dad got Henry a tutor - who taught him braille every Saturday morning for 2 hours.

Charlie loved braille  so much - just by watching Henry learning how to read with braille dots - that he became as good at it as Henry.

When on elevators or at the hospital or any place that had braille dots, Charlie would close his eyes tight - rub his fingers on the braille’s. Dot, dot, dot writing. Then he would tell everyone what a sign or a message said.

But this was just a tiny bit of how Henry learned and here's the gist of my story - my reporting - about Henry the Blind 3rd  Grader.

Because Henry couldn't see, he picked up how people were - in his belly and in his feelings.

He could sense by tone of voice when their teacher was up tight or angry.

At school lunch he would stand back and become quiet and then he would ask to sit next to some kid whose heart was broken - because the kid's mom and dad were fighting and Henry could sense that this kid was about to have to deal with parents who were about to get divorced.

People who would go bowling with Henry - yes a blind kid could learn to bowl a bit.

People would sometimes experience Henry as a really okay kid, especially because Henry knew…. He just knew when this other kid was hurting or just felt rejected.

Henry became so good at sensing what others were feeling that he would say, "When I get older I'm going to become either a psychologist or a priest. People would tell me everything, knowing I can't see them."  I was thinking of becoming a jockey or a race car driver - but on second thought, I better not.

Friends loved him. They could be fat or have acne or forget to brush their teeth and have chocolate cake or spinach in their teeth  and they would get no grief from Henry - after all - he couldn't see.

Well, that’s Henry the  3^rd  grader - so far.