CRESTVIEW — Ryan Jones enjoys traveling, teaching, playing sports and mowing his lawn, despite being visually impaired.
“With the right mindset, you can overcome your challenges to do what you want to do," the 1999 Crestview High School alumnus said.
He's been proving that his whole life.
GROWING UP
Ryan's dad, Bob Jones, former principal of Crestview High and Shoal River Middle Schools, said his son’s visual deterioration began as a toddler. So they adapted to the situation.
“He could read large-print books," Bob said. "As he got into middle school, he was carrying around these textbooks that were the size of an atlas.”
At CHS, Ryan used computer technology that enhanced scanned images and helped him learn. He joined the football team as a wide receiver, and played drums in the band, rising to section leader.
“He won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Musician Of The Year award his senior year," Bob said.
In addition, he won an Okaloosa County School District award for students who triumphed over disabilities or personal challenges.
HELPING OTHERS
As an adult, Ryan travels the country teaching visually impaired people how to use assistive technology developed by Freedom Scientific of St. Petersburg.
"We develop computer technology for people who are visually impaired," Ryan said. "We make software that reads everything on the screen out loud, and software that makes it possible to read on the screen.
"We make devices that translate print into Braille. We make magnifying systems for people who are have no vision or people who need just a little bit of help."
During his travels, he met blind singer Stevie Wonder, who has invited Ryan to his concerts.
Along the way, Ryan shares a message of hope: “Each of us have our own burdens to bear,” he said. “Mine is vision loss, but there are so many technologies to overcome people’s challenges."
A CHANCE ENCOUNTER
While traveling, Ryan met a Kentucky middle school teacher at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. She had a visually impaired student and, noticing Ryan’s cane, asked for advice on helping her student.
“She was sitting at the gate and she said she felt God telling her to speak to me, so we just struck up a conversation,” Ryan said. “We thought it was all about helping that student, but it was about God orchestrating ways for us to get married.”
They wed two years later, and will celebrate their sixth anniversary in April.
THE FIRST STEP
Ryan and Kayla Jones now live in Lexington, Ky., and their faith carries them through life.
“I focus on my church time just to talk about overcoming obstacles, to live by faith and not by sight, to encourage other people,” he said. “… It’s not a ministry, per se, but I get to use my faith to illustrate for other people, which is really good.”
“He’s my Christian role model and my work ethic and perseverance role model,” Bob said. “Ryan has vision that goes beyond sight."
“Sometimes people get stuck on dealing with what’s right in front of them instead of looking at the bigger picture and overcoming those things,” Ryan said.
“The first step is being real about your situation, and not trying to hide it.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview High School alumnus inspires others who are blind