“It’s like a typewriter, an old typewriter,” said 14-year-old Melody Picineo of Roma Wednesday, peering intently at the text of a book displayed on an Onyx Electronic Video Magnifier in a conference room at Region One ESC’s headquarters.
Picineo was, in a way, right. The way the magnifier gradually scanned to the right over sentences and then reset to the left side of the page did mimic the rhythm of an old-timey typewriter, an observation Picineo seemed excited to make.
What excited Picineo’s onlooking grandmother, Marissa Vela, was how far away from the monitor her granddaughter’s face was. Only about average distance, really, maybe a foot.
Those inches of distance, however, marked miles of progress for Picineo, one of 22 local students with severe visual impairments who were equipped with an Onyx magnifier — basically a monitor with a video camera — on Wednesday.
According to her grandmother, Picineo was born prematurely. Her mother was told that she was not going to be able to walk, or to talk, hurdles Picineo overcame.
Vision remains a significant issue and is, Vela said, pretty much the only thing that separates her granddaughter from anyone else.
If Picineo’s familiar with a space, Vela said, she can navigate it well. At school she’s guided around campus and materials are enlarged so that she can understand them.
Efforts to read regular-sized print end up with Picineo practically pressing her glasses lenses up against the page.
It’s a struggle.
“I want her to be normal,” Vela said. “Like me. Like everybody. To have the same opportunity. She said, ‘Grandma, am I going to be able to drive one day?’ And I feel bad.”
Picineo’s new machine, Vela says, is a step toward more opportunity and a sense of normalcy for her granddaughter.
It certainly seemed that way, watching Picineo learn how to use it Wednesday.
For a Dr. Seuss book, she zooms out to see the pictures and zooms back in for the text. For a chapter book, she centers on a line of text and moves the display from left to right and back again — like a typewriter.
Math homework? Zoom in close, square a box around the equation, then black out the background to leave a distinct, isolated 7 x 9.
“At home she’s going to be able to read with that machine,” Vela said, just a little triumphantly.
Matt Daw, an associate director with Sight Savers America, says emotional responses — often almost giddy excitement — are common for families receiving one of the magnification systems.
“If they don’t have this equipment at home, they struggle with simply doing their schoolwork if the school is not providing something for them,” he said. “So it makes a huge difference academically, and also to gain more independence by using this equipment for various tasks.”
Birmingham Alabama-based Sight Savers America provides equipment free of charge in the Rio Grande Valley about once a year, Daw said.
He says the Onyx Electronic Video Magnifier students were being trained to use Wednesday can magnify objects up to a magnitude of 118.
The devices are fairly straightforward — essentially a computer monitor with an attached, adjustable camera and a wired remote to operate them.
They look a tad large and cumbersome, though a carrying case on wheels helps out in that department. They are also not cheap, a quick Google search shows. But Sight Savers America was providing them and the training for them free of charge Wednesday.
Daw says he expects most of Wednesday’s recipients will come to rely on their devices and use them daily. He said there’s less academic, quality of life applications for them as well. Watching TV, for example, or playing with toys and assembling Legos.
Another of Wednesday’s recipients, Raul Garcia III of Brownsville, has a particularly ambitious goal for his magnifier.
The 15-year-old is a budding DJ. Despite his visual impairment — he can see very poorly and his eyes do not focus well — Garcia says he provided sound service at a couple of events this summer and was slated to do another Saturday.
Garcia hasn’t settled on a DJ name yet. He’s hoping to go to college, if he can find a college that offers some classes on being a DJ.
The Onyx magnifier may find a role helping him DJ, Garcia said, but first he plans on using it to watch videos of other DJs, a hobby of his.
“I like modern music,” he said. “Rock music.”
Garcia and his father, Raul Jr., were both clearly excited. After the younger Raul was done learning how to use the machine, his father snapped some photos of his son with the device and one of the techs who helped him learn to use it.
“We don’t receive nothing from the government,” the elder Raul said. “But this, it’s a lot.”
The younger Raul was excited; having the day off from school had him in a particularly good mood. He’s abuzz with talk of plans and prospects he has for himself.
“I want my dad to give me a pickup truck so I can carry all my DJ stuff, better than a car,” he quips.
The elder Raul chuckles and groans, the sort of reaction any parent of a 15-year-old would have when their child said they were ready to hit the road.
