‘Nothing has stopped her’

Senior ShaQuantaey Mack eagerly awaits graduation like many other GCSU students as she happily picks up her graduation gown. However, Mack is unique as she walks to class brushing cane across the sidewalk. She is legally blind and has made her way at GCSU for four years solely dependent on her trained senses of sound and touch.

At 14-years-old, Mack was diagnosed with bilateral indogenous endopthalmitis, a degenerative disease that quickly took away her sight. After attending Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon, she decided to come to GCSU.

In middle school she came to the campus for softball camps back when she played basketball and ran track as well. She knew she had liked the university environment and when it came time to chose a college she remembered GCSU. Now she is on track to graduate with two majors – sociology and criminal justice.

“When I first came to GCSU, I was so nervous,” Mack said. “GCSU brought a mobility instructor in from Athens. He taught me the basics, like how to get to my classes, my dorm and the bus stop. I got lost a few times, but now I know it like the back of my hand.”

Being a blind college student also requires special equipment and assistance. Mack said Mike Chambers, assistant director of Institutional Equity and Diversity for Disability Services, has been “more helpful than could have been imagined.” He assists her by providing textbooks through Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC), a supplier of alternative media to post-secondary institutions in the University System of Georgia. She also has a specialized laptop with software that reads aloud electronic text.

Other than using this alternative media and sitting in the front rows in her classes to better focus, Mack insists she is just like other students. Yet she knows that many do not view it the same way.

“People fear the unknown and often they like to assume before they know what’s going on,” Mack said. “I want people to ask more questions and learn more about all disabilities, not just visual impairment. I guarantee nine out of 10 people walking by here will see that I have visual impairment and they fear what they don’t know. I want more people to be more progressive and ask.”

For Mack, her visual impairment is a fact of life, one that she accepted through faith and the encouragement of her great-grandmother.

“(My great-grandmother) used to have this prayer on her refrigerator,” Mack said. “Every day after I lost my sight she used to make me stand in front of it and she would read it. She told me anything was possible.”

With this inspiration Mack came a long way to where she is today.

“The fact that (my great-grandmother) believed in me did so much,” Mack said. “I think that’s how I made it out – my faith in God and my great grandmother.”

Demonstrating her independence, last summer Mack studied abroad in Nigeria with a group of GCSU students and professors. She completed class credit and was able to experience another culture.

“I felt like I accomplished something,” Mack said. “While we were there we met so many people – kings, missionaries and government officials. It was wonderful. I stepped out of my comfort zone.”

Amazingly, Mack said fear is not a problem in her life. Rather, she trusts in herself to adjust and rationalize situations. She said sometimes she likes to get lost because she can find out more about her surroundings.

The main way Mack moves around campus is dependent on sensory methods that others often overlook. She recognizes locations on campus based on the texture of the sidewalks against her cane or the sounds of traffic, people or the distance from the Arts & Sciences Fountain.

While at GCSU Mack also helped instigate the start up of A.B.L.E., Advocacy Beyond Limitations = Empowerment. Now the director of programs, she is responsible for planning monthly events on campus focusing on disability awareness.

While graduation impends in the near distance, Mack excitedly looks toward the future. Ideally she wants to manage her own business or be a transitioning counselor to help others. She might even get a master’s degree in social work.

Chambers believes Mack, who some endearingly call “Taey,” has been a prime example of all the achievements that are possible for those who have disabilities on campus.

“(Taey) has had to overcome a lot of obstacles to get to achieve what she has achieved,” Chambers said. “She has done it with a remarkable attitude along the way. She is really an inspiration to other students, faculty and staff who have gotten to know her because she has basically taken the attitude all along that she won’t let anything get in her way. Nothing has stopped her.”

While Mack is one of six visually impaired students on campus, there are nearly 220 students currently documented with disabilities, according to GCSU Disability Services. However, most of them have “hidden disabilities” such as psychological disorders, brain trauma and learning disabilities.

Mack said she doesn’t let her disability limit or define her. One day she looks forward to once again leaving America and exploring Italy or Spain, but for now, she is preparing to graduate from GCSU.

Posted by Chelsea Thomas on Apr 23 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry