Seven month old Harlen Petersen was born with ONH and SOP. Now, he will be learning echolocation as a way of getting around.
Seven month old Harlen Petersen was born with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia and Septo-Optic Dysplasia, both congenital disorders which together affect the optic nerves, the brain, and the endocrine system.
ONH is when the optic nerves (one or both) are too small. I will do a full article on this soon which I will link at the end of this entry.
Septo-Optic Dysplasia is when the pituitary gland either is not there or does not fully develope. In Harlen's case, it is missing completely.
Both diseases are associated with brain malformation, learning difficulties, and developmental delay beyond that of the average blind or sighted child.
On March 12th (2016), Daniel Kish will be making a journey to Harlen's hometown and giving him a lesson in echolocation. Kish is a world renounced teacher in this field. He explains the technique in his TED talk "How I Use Sonar to Navigate the World".
Echolocation is an ever growing area of discovery to the blind community today, yet I've heard little about it. I've seen a documentary ("The Boy who can See without Eyes") and hear it built up. I've never met a user of the technique. My connections are familiar with variations of the long white cane and/or guide dogs.
Some claim echolocation is a replacement for mobility tools like a cane, and others disagree. Some believe neither to be a good option and are looking for high-tech fixes for navigating the world as a blind individual.
Whatever ends up happening I wish luck to Harlen and his family and want to assure them that this is the best time in history so far to be a blind person. We are very lucky to have the technology and support we have, and it's getting better all the time!
Original article: Human echolocation expert to pass on skills to baby Harlen
TED talk: How I Use Sonar to Navigate the World
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