LEHMAN TWP. — Aidan Holman, 11, found “quite a few” eggs during an Easter egg hunt held March 25 on the Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus.
However, Holman used his ears to locate the eggs, which were hidden on the grounds behind Hayfield House on campus. The 50 green, yellow and blue Easter eggs used for the event made beeping sounds, so visually impaired children could locate them.
The egg hunt was sponsored by Northeast Sight Services, a community organization based in Exeter dedicated to assisting blind and visually impaired individuals. Forty children, ranging from toddlers to teenagers and all members of Northeast Sight Services’ InSight Kids Club, participated in the “beeping” egg hunt.
“I think the kids enjoy having an activity that’s accessible for them,” said Sara Gorgone Peperno, president and CEO of Northeast Sight Services.
She also said many of the children would not otherwise get the opportunity to participate in a traditional Easter egg hunt.
Holman, who went to the event with his grandfather, Jim Holmes, of Tunkhannock, attended for the first time and would like to do so again in the future.
“I really liked it,” he said.
Holman has been totally blind since he was 6 years old, but has very sharp hearing.
“His hearing is so good that he can hear mosquitoes in the wintertime,” said Holmes.
He also said that, to the best of his knowledge, Holman and one other child are the only two students in the entire Tunkhannock Area School District who are visually impaired. Therefore, the egg hunt was a good way for him to interact with more children, who deal with the same type of physical challenges as he does.
“Because the incidence of vision loss is actually very low for children, we find that a lot of kids may never meet someone – another child (with visual impairment issues),” said Gorgone Peperno.
Kayla McDonough, 18, of Carbondale, was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, also known as RP, when she was 14 years old. She has only central vision and no peripheral vision and agrees with Gorgone Peperno and Holmes.
“You kind of see that you’re not alone and that other people have it, too,” she said referring to sight problems. McDonough, who participated in the event last year found eight Easter eggs this year.
“I think it’s just nice that all of us can come together and put our disabilities aside and have fun with a normal Easter egg hunt like other kids do,” she said.
