Students With Visual Impairment - Reflection and Response - Essay Example

The film comprises of four young characters named Chas, Meagan, Denise and Isaac whose dreams go beyond reality. While Chas and Meagan were seniors, Denise and Isaac were both freshmen at college. In this 72 minute film, the audience is transported to a totally different world of unsightly darkness. The film sheds light on the dreams and aspirations of these young people and how they strive to realize them. The film that was shot over a period of one year depicts the obstacles that come in the way of fulfilling their dreams and the positive attitude of never say die that its characters exhibit in their daily lives. A. Student Background Information Chas is an African American student whose aspiration it was to be a Rap singer, but was unfortunately afflicted with a genetic eye condition that ran in his family.

However, Chas was not one to shy away from the fact that he was handicapped. On the other hand, he tried to push himself in spite of it and explored the world around him. He made a sincere attempt to prepare himself for the outside world. His attitude was mostly positive and he always liked to learn something new. When he was not with his studies, work or with his sweetheart Ashley, he did his best to hone his skills of emceeing as 1 to Cee (One to see) and becoming a Rap artist. In fact the title of his first Rap number is “The Eyes of me” which also happens to be the title of this documentary that enumerates the emotions, feelings and experiences of his handicap.

Meagan was the other senior in Maitland’s documentary “The Eyes of Me”. The cause for her becoming blind was related to cancer of the retina at the tender age of 17 months. Meagan was devastated by the loss of her eye sight and she suffered from poor self esteem and became an introvert with practically no social life what-so-ever. Her condition was supposedly treatable, but the radiation technique that was used to remove the cancerous portions was also responsible for putting an end to her vision once and for all.

However, Meagan regained her self confidence and zest for life after coming to this special school and is now well on her way to acquiring her Master’s in social work and becoming a professional counselor at a reputed hospital or school. The other two enterprising freshmen in the documentary are Denise and Isaac who are highly enthusiastic about what they want to be in life. Denise suffered from shortened nerves to the eye but tries her best to make things work to her advantage. For example, she loves acting and did just that.

In the course of time she has morphed into a “Cinderella” from the withdrawn character that she was. She is seen dancing, acting, practicing and chatting as any young girl of her age would do. In the documentary we see her enthusiastically honing her acting skills and then doing her best on stage. However, Isaac was unlike the other three protagonists because he had only recently at the age of 14 lost his eye sight in an accident that served to detach his retinas. Though the shattering experience of being completely blind was something new to him, yet he never lost his self confidence at any time.

In fact, he aspires to become the first blind President of the United States! B. Description of Typical Compensatory Strategies It is a