{"id":322659,"date":"2023-04-12T08:14:34","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T15:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/?p=322659"},"modified":"2023-04-11T12:20:34","modified_gmt":"2023-04-11T19:20:34","slug":"mission-bay-freshman-navigates-school-and-running-track-while-blind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/mission-bay-freshman-navigates-school-and-running-track-while-blind\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission Bay freshman navigates school and running track while blind"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet Chris Adamson. A freshman member of the Mission Bay High School track team. His main<\/span><\/span> events are the 100m and 200m distances. His personal best is 16.55 seconds for the 100m and 35.6 seconds for the 200m races. Adamson is blind and uses a guide runner every day at track practice and at his track meets. His guide runner, David Cervantes, is also his one-on-one classroom aide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born with impaired vision and then while I was in third grade at Sessions Elementary went totally blind,\u201d Adamson said. \u201cI have Alstr\u00f6m Syndrome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"mission
Mission Bay High School track coach Danny Perez and ninth-grade track team member, Chris Adamson. COURTESY PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With special education support, involved parents, and incredible personal determination, Adamson set about learning to read and write Braille. There are many styles or types of Braille. The first style \u00e9l <\/span><\/span>learned is known as UEB, Unified English Braille. UEB is based on the style of Braille first invented by Louise Braille in 1824. The Braille characters are formed using a combination of six raised dots in a 3 por<\/span><\/span> 2 matrix, called a Braille cell. Adamson <\/span><\/span>learned Unified English Braille over one summer when he was 9<\/span><\/span> years old.<\/p>\n

Understanding that middle school and later high school would require learning and communicating in ever increasingly complex subject matter, Adamson set out to learn Nemeth Braille in sixth grade at Pacific Beach Middle School. Nemeth Braille, invented by Abraham Nemeth in 1952, is a more complex and specialized style of Braille used for science and mathematics instruction. In sixth grade, Adamson also started learning computer Braille.<\/p>\n

Adamson met Cervantes at the beginning of sixth grade at Pacific Beach Middle. The two have been a tight team ever since. \u201cIt took a while to develop trust and work out the communication between us,\u201d Adamson said. \u201cNow it\u2019s all good.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are some of the <\/span><\/span>biggest challenges for Adamson in high school? Surprisingly, it\u2019s not the track part. Adamson said his two greatest challenges are making sure that text material needed for class is ordered early and the description of on-screen visual imagery.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, if I am assigned a novel like \u2018Great Expectations\u2019 it needs to be sent to the VI (Visually Impaired) department to be put in Braille for me prior to classroom use. I always need the Braille material as early as possible so I don\u2019t fall behind,\u201d Adamson said.<\/p>\n

Regarding the challenge of descriptive imagery, Cervantes explains: \u201cSo much of instruction comes through a screen. If a film or video segment is not available with \u2018audio assist,\u2019 I am constantly trying to describe the on-screen images as precisely as I can, with as much detail as possible. It is a real challenge. I need to be accurate as well as concise.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to assisting Adamson five days a week at school, and at Saturday track meets, Cervantes is pursuing a physics major and child development minor at San Diego State University. Cervantes is pleased that his assignment with Adamson is now in its fourth year.<\/p>\n

\u201cContinuity with the student\/aide match has benefits for both parties. It allows them to build stronger support and to better understand each other’s needs and preferences,\u201d Cervantes dicho<\/span><\/span>. \u201cThis will lead to improved academic and personal outcomes for the student, as well as greater job satisfaction for the aide. And, I have developed a strong connection to Adamson\u2019s family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Track practice is every day after school. Mission Bay track coach Danny Perez is excited to have Adamson out for track.<\/p>\n

\"chris
Mission Bay freshman Chris Adamson competes in a race with guide runner David Cervantes at a track meet earlier this season. PHOTO BY BRIAN KEER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI have worked with a number of para-athletes in my career,\u201d said<\/span><\/span> Perez. \u201cFrom the research I have done, Adamson is the only blind runner competing on a California high school track team this year. He is setting records and has qualified for the state meet in Fresno at the end of May.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cervantes is Adamson\u2019s guide runner. At track meets, Cervantes has the outside lane, usually No. <\/span><\/span>9. Adamson has lane 8. They are tethered with a short strap.<\/p>\n

\u201cRunning tethered to another person involves a great deal of trust,\u201d Adamson said. \u201cWe are in constant communication so that I stay in my lane, that I cross the finish line ahead of Cervantes, and that I am relaxed enough to run at my top pace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 200m distance is more difficult for me. Not only is it longer, but also the track curves. Cervantes needs to communicate the curves to me to keep me in my lane,\u201d Adamson said.<\/p>\n

F<\/span><\/span>acts about Chris Adamson:<\/p>\n

1.) His<\/span><\/span> older brother, David, attends Mission Bay and plays tennis.<\/p>\n

2.) His<\/span><\/span> favorite food is sushi.<\/p>\n

3.) He<\/span><\/span> plays chess both online and with a Braille board and chess pieces.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet Chris Adamson. A freshman member of the Mission Bay High School track team. His main events are the 100m and 200m distances. His personal best is 16.55 seconds for the 100m and 35.6 seconds for the 200m races. Adamson is blind and uses a guide runner every day at track practice and at his […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1496,"featured_media":322662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Meet Chris Adamson. A freshman member of the Mission Bay High School track team. His main events are the 100m and 200m distances. His personal best is 16.55 seconds for the 100m and 35.6 seconds for the 200m races. Adamson is blind and uses a guide runner every day at track practice and at his track meets. His guide runner, David Cervantes, is also his one-on-one classroom aide.","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"3","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[15403,15409,15490],"tags":[15759,15758,15757,12677,12543,12828],"class_list":["post-322659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press-education","category-beach-bay-press-top-stories","category-sdnews-top-stories","tag-blind","tag-braille","tag-guide-runner","tag-mission-bay-high-school","tag-pacific-beach","tag-track"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1496"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322664,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322659\/revisions\/322664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}