Someone who impresses me.

Blindness no barrier to degree for Alvernia University student
Grad school ahead for Luis Fontanez Jr. after graduation from Alvernia University with psychology degree

By Greta Cuyler

Luis M. Fontanez Jr. of Muhlenberg Township will graduate from Alvernia University on Saturday.

Seven years after Luis M. Fontanez Jr. went completely blind, he's set to graduate magna cum laude from Alvernia University on Saturday.

It's been a tough but triumphant road for Luis, 26.

The son of Anna E. and Luis M. Fontanez Sr. of Muhlenberg Township, Luis was 4 years old when he lost vision in his left eye to congenital glaucoma.

And as a junior at Reading High School in the fall of 2000, he was hit in the right eye during an impromptu game of dodgeball.

A few months later he was diagnosed with a detached retina, likely caused by a miniscule tear when the ball hit his eye.

Despite six surgeries over nearly two years, doctors could not save Luis' sight.

"The vision loss was very rapid," Luis said. "Every day I woke up I was able to see less and less. It was as if the lights were being turned out one light bulb at a time."

Luis said he summoned inner strength when he lost his sight completely at age 19.

"I decided there was only one way for a blind, Hispanic man to make his way in life," he said. "And it wasn't sitting in my room feeling sorry for myself. It was going to be going to college and studying and doing something with my life."

Luis earned an associate degree in liberal arts from Reading Area Community College in 2006 and enrolled at Alvernia in 2008.

He earned a nearly straight-A average and will graduate with a bachelor's degree in psychology and a minor in history. Luis plans to attend graduate school and become a school counselor.

Before he lost his sight, Luis earned his high school diploma from Reading High in June 2002.

He got a mobility cane in January 2003, a month after his 19th birthday. Two months after that, he started classes at RACC.

A mobility specialist from the state Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services helped him get a feel for the layout of both the RACC and Alvernia campuses through guided tours, but Luis learned to expertly navigate on his own through trial and error, he said.

With accommodations provided under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Luis says he's been like any other college student.

He learns course material by attending class and tape-recording lectures. He listens to textbooks on compact disc. He uses a laptop computer that reads aloud each letter as he types. Test questions are read to him and he either responds orally or by typing on his laptop.

"Any blind student can be successful here as long as you're willing to work hard enough and have the drive and determination to be a successful college student," Luis said.