Aldane Harrison, a visually-impaired 14-year-old boy, has done what seemed impossible before— he placed fourth for the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew in the 12-14 category of the recently concluded National Reading Competition.

According to Harrison’s mom, Ghinel Lysaith, her son’s desire to enter the competition came as no surprise as he always loved to read before he began losing his sight. She said he did well in school even when life began changing for him in 2018 and it was revealed that he has retinal detachment.

Retinal detachment is an eye disorder where the retinal peels away from its underlying support issue, which, without quick treatment, could lead to vision loss and blindness.

“The situation developed in 2018. When I found out I took him to an ophthalmologist in Falmouth and the ophthalmologist recommended me to Dr Donovan Calder who had a private office in Kingston and from there we realised that [sight in] one of his eyes was literally gone,” Lysaith said.

She disclosed that a few days after finding out her son’s condition he had to do an emergency surgery on both eyes. She told Observer Online that Harrison has done seven surgeries since his diagnosis, the last of which happened in 2023.

“So in December 2023 he had a surgery. It was a success at first however the retina fell back from the lens in his eye so right now he is only glimpsing things because the machines over by UWI [hospital] are giving a lot trouble and I don’t have the funds to take him over to Cuba to at least save that one eye. I would really, really love that for him because he wants to be a mechanical engineer and it bothers him at times because he always say ‘Mommy me never born this way so it kinda hard to adjust to the new way of life’, so sometime it hurt him and it hurt me even more knowing that I only have one child,” Lysaith shared.

“I am asking if someone out there can help me get in contact with a doctor from Cuba. I have been trying for so long. And even some help to go over there because I don’t want him to lose the little sight that he has remaining. Any assistance, any help at all I could get, even if it is to get through to an eye doctor in Cuba I would really appreciate it just for him to remain with the one eye he has,” she pleaded.

Lysaith said she is proud of her son’s achievement in the reading competition but explained that it came as no surprise as he usually performs well in school. She said he progressed well through primary school, completed his Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams and up to grade eight at the St James High School with only one eye, before she moved him from home in Hanover to attend the Salvation Army School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Kingston.

She said when her son approached her about entering the competition she encouraged him because she was aware of his capabilities.

“Aldane love to read a lot of stuff, not just now but from long time. So when he called and told me that he was going to enter the Kingston and St Andrew Reading Competition I said to him ‘Go ahead and do your best. I know that you can do it, whatever you put your mind to you will achieve’,” Lysaith said.

In order to get through the competition, Harrison received help from the school’s librarian, Diana Ferguson, as the books in the competition are not in braille. They decided to turn them into audio books with volunteers reading and recording each story for Harrison to access.

“We realised that the books were not in braille so we got volunteers to read the books for him and he would record the books while they were being read so he could have that information for his folder. So in his spare time he would listen to the recordings and then I would pull him aside from time to time and discuss the books with him to ensure that he is on par with the information,” Ferguson said.

“I had a recording of the book also so when he reached the point for him to do the book review I would have gone ahead to help him to prepare them. I would have shown him how to do a book review. I would have brought him through the steps and given him a template and he would follow through with that. I would also give him short questions on each book just to ensure that he was understanding the information in the books. So that is what we did to prepare him for the competition,” the librarian explained.

Ferguson expressed pride in Harrison’s achievement, placing fourth out of 64 candidates in the 12-14 age group of the competition. She explained that she would happily go through the process with other interested students from the Salvation Army school as it is her passion to see them representing themselves well on a large scale despite their disabilities.

“I would do it 10 more times because it is my passion. I love reading and also when I was employed at this institution this was one of my goals; to see students from School for the Blind entering the reading competition and just going out there on a stage to show the public that we are here too and, despite our disabilities, we are able to do just as well as persons who have sight. Our intellectual ability does not deter us from doing so. So I really want to see my students on that stage performing and showing people that we can do it too,” Ferguson said.

The award ceremony for the 2024 National Reading Competition was held on August 30, under the theme ‘Read More in 2024’.

With Harrison’s involvement, Maureen Thompson, director general of the Jamaica Library Service informed that the agency is looking to make the competition more inclusive for people with disabilities.