Chris Richards / staff
Justin Hughes: Despite hearing loss and increasingly diminished vision, he remains positive.
Student won't let progressive eye disease dim his future
By Angela Soto
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Justin Hughes' world is closing in on him.
Born with a degenerative eye disease, Hughes has limited vision of shadows and light. He is also hearing impaired, but Hughes doesn't let his disabilities slow him down.
Hughes, a senior at the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, is just like any other high school kid - he has a girlfriend, plays sports, attends seven hours of classes each day, works and loves to listen to CDs.
Hughes, 20, was born with Rod-Cone Dystrophy, also known as retinitis pigmentosa. It's a hereditary progressive retinal degeneration in both eyes.
The disease was stable for a long time.
But last year his eyesight began failing, making it difficult to continue attending public school in Mesa.
"I got to a point where I couldn't read," Hughes said. "It would take me five to six hours to do one assignment. I couldn't keep up with the work."
Hughes' parents decided to send him to ASDB. Though it was difficult to leave home, Hughes made the best of things.
"He is the type of kid that takes the ball and runs with it," said school counselor Shari Brown. "He has a good attitude … and he doesn't limit himself."
Hughes has learned a lot in the year he has been at ASDB. As part of his orientation and mobility class, his teacher dropped him off on the Tucson Mall's second floor. He had to get back to ASDB's campus alone. With the help of his cane and a few nice people, he made it to the bus stop. Three transfers later, he arrived at school before his teacher.
"That's the second time I beat my teacher back," Hughes said proudly.
The class also has taught him to shop, make his own meals and do his laundry. Hughes has a machine that allows him to type information - such as a grocery list - and print it out in Braille or regular type. That way he can take his list to a customer-service counter and get his shopping done. He has a computer that reads his mail and a watch that tells him the time with the press of a button.
Despite the challenges of losing his sight and hearing and moving away from his family, Hughes isn't scared to live an independent life.
He plans to find an apartment after graduation and get a job at the Tucson Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
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