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Ruben Graham-Morris is just eight years old.
He was born blind, and was diagnosed with the genetic disorder Leber’s congenital amaurosis. This disorder affects the retina, which detects light and color.
Sometimes, this can just impair the vision. But for Ruben, his case was so severe that he would never be able to see.
Now, he’s learned to “see.”
In other words, he’s learned echolocation. This is most commonly used by bats, and it means that he can use clicking noises in order to hear where things are in space. The echo of the clicking sounds helps him decode size, shape, and distance of objects around him.
Ruben’s mother, Trudie Graham, says that she’s overjoyed that her son has learned echolocation.
“As a mother you want the best for your children,” she said. “I want to know that even when I’m not around, Ruben can live a normal and independent life. This will help him do that.”
His mother was researching support groups a while ago when she stumbled across a man named Daniel Kish, the president of World Access for the Blind.
“He was doing a workshop in Dorset with charity Common Sense so we went down to meet him, and we were just blown away.
“I knew I wanted Ruben to learn echolocation, it gave me renewed hope for his future.”
Trudie has kept in touch with Daniel ever since, and Daniel worked with Ruben on his echolocation. Now, Ruben is comfortable walking down the street without holding onto his mother’s arm.
He says, “I love using echolocation, I feel very confident—I can find my way around more easily and I’ll be able to go out and do more things on my own when I’m older.”
People call Daniel Kish a real life Batman, and Ruben is sometimes referred to as a bat boy. He has an opinion of his own about it.
“I love using [echolocation], and I do like Batman a lot—but I don’t think Batman uses echolocation because he can see.”
