Beyond sight: Vision doesn’t limit student’s success
Ballet, basketball and interior design are all a part of everyday life for Deja Rolfe. Pretty common activities for many people in their 20s, but not so much for people who are blind.
Deja Rolfe, 22, is a senior at Utah State University majoring in public relations and organizational communication. She is also blind.
In this politically correct world, there is often confusion about how to refer to people who have a visual disability. People who have “normal” vision are sighted. The Center for Persons with Disabilities at USU refers to people who have lost their sight as vision impaired, or partially sighted.
Rolfe prefers blind.
“There is a very fine line between being blind and being sighted,” said Rolfe. “Sometimes people refer to people as being partially sighted, or visually impaired, which isn’t necessarily wrong, but legally either you’re blind or you’re not. I’m blind.”
To be legally blind a person’s vision must be worse than 20/200 in the better eye with the best possible correction, according to the American Federation for the Blind. Rolfe’s vision is 20/400 with corrective lenses. Without the correction it’s too bad to measure. Her sight has been pretty steady her entire life, although over the past year it has gotten a little worse.
Rolfe, however, has not always lived like a blind person. “Since I do have some sight, it’s always been hard for me to decide which side I belong on,” she said. “Do I act like a sighted person or do I try and do things as a blind person? It’s always been a battle for me to try and figure out.”
Until last year Rolfe didn’t have cane or read Braille. She tried to let as few people as possible know that she could not see. In elementary school she would try to play sports at recess.
“Finally it just got too difficult for me and too dangerous,” Rolfe said. “When crossing the street I would run out in front of cars. Going down stairs I would miss a stair and fall; not only is it painful, but it doesn’t do much for your ego.”
Rolfe began to learn Braille and using a cane about a year ago. “I wanted to make my life easier, and it has, 100 times,” she said.
In 1994-95, there were approximately 1.3 million Americans who reported legal blindness, according to the AFB. Of these individuals, 80 percent had some “useful vision.” The other 20 percent (260,000) had only light perception or less vision. Half of these individuals were totally blind (130,000).
The National Federation of the Blind, or NFB, emphasizes that blindness doesn’t need to be the tragedy it is generally thought to be.
“The hardest part about (being blind) is that you don’t want people to think that your life is mess, or that you can’t achieve anything,” Rolfe said. “I just don’t want people to feel bad for people who are blind. You would be amazed at how many accomplished, brilliant and talented blind people there are. They are just like everyone else. There is just this minor inconvenience that they have to work around, and work with.”
For now, however, Rolfe is very successful as a student, a wife and an employee. She has embraced her blindness, and accepted that it’s part of who she is.
Rolfe married her high school sweetheart, Zach Rolfe, in May, 2004.
“What I love about Deja is that she is such a go-getter,” Zach said. “She is doesn’t let her limitations hold her back. She looks at every day as a good day. She’s happy about life, and about who she is.”
“Deja wants to make people as comfortable as possible,” he said. “She is honestly very concerned about other people.”
Her concern for people is a part of her life daily, especially at work. She currently has an internship with Huntsman Cancer Institute in the Public Affairs Department, where she is a part of almost all the publicity for the Institute. Rolfe was directly affected by cancer when her father was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and said she hopes that the work she does can help make a difference to people who have, or may be affected by, cancer.
As part of her internship she is entirely responsible for the publicity for the statewide skin cancer screening that will take place at the end of May.
Rolfe also enjoys interior decorating.
“I haven’t done a single thing in the apartment,” Zach said. “She decorated everything. The only thing she has me do is put nails in the wall, but even then she tells me where they should go.”
“Deja hasn’t let her blindness hold her back,” he said. “She honestly just wants people to be happy, just like she is.”
-apassey@cc.usu.edu