Blind girl just trying to be 'normal person'

At any given time you might see Caroline Blair, 12, of Salt Lake City, out skiing, hiking or rock climbing. Or she may be inside practicing the piano.

But in late June, Caroline was in Los Angeles competing with 60 other visually impaired students in the eighth annual National Braille Challenge. She was the sole Utah representative.

Caroline, who was born blind, loves to read Braille — and that is the secret of her success, says Merrillee Petersen. She is a member of the board for the Utah Foundation for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

"We were thrilled to have someone going from Utah," Petersen said. She coordinates the Utah Braille Challenge, in conjunction with the Braille Institute of America.

Caroline didn't place in the event but said she had a lot of fun competing. Her father, David Blair, said, "There was a moment of disappointment, but these kids are the best in the country."

And competing in Braille isn't all that Caroline does for fun.

The spunky pre-teen says she wishes for the day when being blind and active isn't such an anomaly and for when blind people can be totally independent.

When Caroline skis, her father uses voice commands to guide her. When hiking, she uses trekking poles and goes in a group. She plays piano by ear. And rock climbing is easy — it's all by touch.

"Sometimes people are pretty surprised," she said. "Others say, 'Yeah, of course she can do this."'

Caroline spoke in a phone interview with the Deseret News while she was at the Louisiana Center for the Blind. There she was learning cane travel, living skills and technology.

"I just want to be a normal person," Caroline said. "It's not that I don't want to be blind — I just don't want to always have someone else with me."

Caroline added she didn't mind her mother flying with her to Louisiana, however, and to the Braille Challenge in California.

Caroline's mother, Pat Renfranz, said her daughter wants to be just like any other kid, "and I think she can do it."

Renfranz said her life changed after Caroline, her first of two girls, was born with microphthalmia, in which the eyes don't fully develop. The ultrasound didn't show it, and she was completely unprepared for how to raise a blind child.

Renfranz received help from the Utah School for the Deaf and the Blind, as well as an early intervention agency.