Ben Underwood lives with his family in the suburbs of Sacramento, California where he attends his local high school. Like any other 14-year-old boy, he loves to play with his friends and chat to girls his age, with whom he seems popular. He looks like any other boy, until he removes his $4,600, hand-crafted eyes.
Ben is blind and, like other blind people, relies on some specialist equipment to survive. He uses talking computer software and a Braille machine to help with his homework. Ben does not have a guide dog, uses no stick, and does not even use his hands to aid his mobility.
Instead, he has developed something of a supersense: he is the only person in the world who navigates using clicks. As he walks, he makes a continuous clicking noise with his tongue. As these clicks echo around him, he is able to draw up a detailed mental plan of his surroundings and adjust his direction accordingly. So accurate is his technique that he is even able to go rollerblading on the street, negotiating narrow gaps between parked cars that even sighted children might find challenging. In fact, Ben’s mother, Aquanetta, finds that her son is far more attentive to the dangers of the road than his friends, always the first to move onto the pavement when a car approaches. But perhaps the most important factor in the development of Ben’s talent is the attitude of the boy himself. “Ain’t nothing wrong with me”, he insists.
The boy who sees without eyes.
