Los Angeles Times
Orange County Edition
Sunday June 3, 2001

“Student’s Lack of Sight Doesn’t Mean Lack of Vision”

by Dennis McLellan, Times Staff Writer

When Christina Chang packs her pens, pencils, erasers and notebooks into her school backpack every morning, there’s one indispensable item she doesn’t want to forget; her magnifying glass.

Without it, she would be unable to read her textbooks, study sheets and test questions. Even with it, she has to hold books and papers three inches from her face and read the words one at a time with the small portion of the glass that offers extra magnification. And when she wants to know what’s written on the board, she has to ask her teacher to read it for her.

For unknown reasons, Chang has minimal central vision. Although her peripheral vision is good within 10 feet—she must move her eyes sideways to see things—anything directly in front of her within a five-foot width is a dark blind spot.

But being legally blind doesn’t prevent her from excelling as a Villa Park High School junior.

A straight-A student since seventh grade, the 16-year-old student from Orange has maintained a 5.0 grade-point average since her sophomore year, when she began taking honors and Advanced Placement classes.

Her diligence pays dividends.

Within the past month, she was named a National Merit Commended Scholar for having scored in the top 1% nationally on the PSAT test. And she received word that she is on the Governor’s Scholars Program roster for being among the top 5% of students in the state on the Stanford 9 test.

Today, she will be honored by the Los Angeles Unit of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, a nonprofit group that records audio texts for students with vision, perception or physical impairments.

Chang, who will receive a $500 second-place award at a brunch at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, is one of six winning students who were chosen from about 50 applicants.

Chang’s accomplishments are not restricted to academics.

She is a member of the National Honor Society, the California Scholarship Federation, the Model United Nations, American Red Cross and Junior Statesmen of America. She is secretary of her school’s Spanish Club and president and founder of the Animal Rights and Care Club.

She also plays flute and piano and has won first-place awards at regional and state piano competitions. (Unable to sight read, she memorizes pieces by reading the music with her magnifying glass and then playing it measure by measure).

“She’s just an extraordinary student,” said Stacey Eubank, educational outreach director for Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic.

Describing Christina as “upbeat and positive” and “someone who sets extremely high goals for herself and meets them,” history teacher Dick Brunt said, “It’s only when she’s called upon to do something—writing or whatever—that you can tell” she has a vision problem.

Brunt said he was told last summer that he would have a sight-impaired girl in his class in the fall, “And I basically forgot about it.

“When the class met, I didn’t even notice, in all honesty, until the second week when we had an assignment. She pulled out a huge magnifying glass and put it right against her eye. She had the paper we were dealing with and she stuck that right onto the magnifying glass, which suddenly triggered in my mind, ‘This is the young lady.’”

Brunt said Christina never asks for additional help in class. The only thing she needs is extra time for tests, he said.

Having to read a test with a magnifying glass is time consuming, Brunt said, “But the incredible thing is she never goes back once she reads the question.” And even when she asks him to read additional test questions on the board, he said, “She never asks me to read them twice. She has a remarkable memory.”

Christina became aware of her vision problem in first grade. An eye doctor wasn’t sure what her problem was. When she was in ninth grade, a UCLA ophthalmologist diagnosed cone/rod dystrophy, “But he’s still looking for the cause in order to find a treatment,” said Christina’s mother, Julie.

Christina attributes her 5.0 GPA partly to “getting in the habit of studying and having good study habits. It’s also because I have a lot of support from family and friends. They encourage me to do well.”

She has a full schedule of six honors and advanced placement classes: AP U.S. history, European history and chemistry; and honors pre-calculus, physics and English 11 (world literature).

Maintaining her grades is “really hard work,” she said.

After school, she practices piano for an hour or two, then begins four to five hours of homework broken only by dinner.

On Saturday mornings she spends two hours studying Chinese at the North Orange County Chinese School and the rest of the day with friends “just having fun.” After church on Sunday, she spends five or six hours on homework.

Chang is interested in becoming an English teacher or going into journalism.

“I also want to set an example for society,” she said, “that having disabilities doesn’t hinder your ability to succeed.”

©2001 Los Angeles Times. Reprinted by permission