Memories of a savanna

When I was growing up, the wide lush green savanna was often my playground. My parents would often take us kids to the savanna to play on a Sunday morning or afternoon and sometimes we would even be taken there during the week after supper.

The air was fresh and cool. The birds were always out there singing their little hearts out, and the fragrance of flowers was almost always present. Oh how I used to love to play in the grass. Run, jump, and skip along with my brothers and cousins. We played hide and seek. We ran foot races, flew kites, and chased each other around and among the trees.

Sometimes we would take our golden Lab, Yella, along for the fun and she, too, enjoyed it all and rewarded us with her resounding barks. Once or twice we took along our scooter and I would ride up and down the paved track and then onto the grass.

We also used to play cricket and football and Dad never forgot to spend time reading to me as we sat on benches under the large trees. I loved those times and as he read, Mom and I would listen and I would be looking up into the trees to admire the smiling face of the sun.

Those were the days when my lack of vision was never a barrier to me. No barriers existed whenever I set out to play with the others. The other kids were always careful to make sure that I was safe from obstacles and at that time it never seemed as if they cared about my being blind. Could I possibly venture to say that as a kid barriers to blindness seemed so far away then? Ah yes! Memories of my precious savanna.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day and inviting you to learn more about the world of blind kids by visiting www.acb.org.
Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and @author_jodhan.