Rhoda Harris
Her spirit jumps out at you and flows around you at the moment of introduction. Rhoda Harris greets me with a warm smile, a welcoming tone, and bright, shining eyes. What is not readily apparent is that those eyes don’t really see me clearly.

“I can see you,” says Rhoda. “But it’s as if I’m looking at you through a straw. All that is visible to me is a pinpoint of your face. I have no peripheral vision and I have partial vision in one eye only.” What Rhoda has is glaucoma, and she just recently was diagnosed with a cataract. “I have ten percent vision left in my right eye. Now with the cataract, it’s like grease is in my eye.”

She was diagnosed with childhood glaucoma, a rare condition caused by incorrect development of the eye’s drainage system before birth, according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation. “My grandmother noticed something was wrong because I was spilling and bumping into things a lot. She took me to a specialist who sent me to County Hospital. At the time, I was diagnosed, at 4-years-old, I was only one of three children who had it in the entire state. I was the youngest and one of two who were African-American.”

Glaucoma is a condition Rhoda has lived with all her life, but says

I don’t think of myself as handicapped. I know that’s not what people with disabilities are called these days, but when I was growing up that’s what it was called.
Although her impaired vision has been a part of her life, she has not let it define who she is, what she is worth, and how far she can go.

She has, however, been very selective about who knew about her condition. Her family knew, of course, but few people at her former employer, the BloodCenter of Wisconsin, knew until after she left on disability in 1998. “When I was working as community liaison for the Bone Marrow Donor recruitment campaign, my co-workers thought I was excessively neat or very territorial about my work areas. Really, I needed everything to be in its place so I could just lay my hands on my supplies and files because I couldn’t see.”

Rhoda became adept at keeping her secret. If she needed to travel for her job, she took a friend or family member with her at her own expense. If you didn’t know her vision was impaired, you wouldn’t know. In fact, she drove herself and ferried her children to school and activities up until 1995. After leaving the BloodCenter of Wisconsin, Rhoda learned how to navigate with a cane with the help of Badger Association of the Blind.

She was looking for very specific help from badger – she wanted to navigate her way around the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus. Why? Because Rhoda was going back to school to earn her degree in sociology, which she earned in 2003, along with a BA in Letters and Science with a minor in Africology and a certificate in Women’s Studies.. This was fulfillment of a promise she made to her mother when she graduated from the former West Division High School. Her mother never saw her fulfill that promise because she died two weeks after Rhoda graduated from high school.

Independence has been the key to her life with glaucoma. “I went to regular school as a child; worked always. Everywhere I go, I try to change the rules.” Glaucoma is considered a disability. Rhoda demonstrates everyday that it’s just a different kind of ability.

“Having my faith and being truly blessed with the support of my family, friends, organizations and wonderful doctors over the years has helped me with living life to the fullest. I would like to say thank you to all who have traveled with me on this journey with glaucoma.”

See what I mean about her spirit? It enfolds you and assures you that no matter the obstacles to overcome, by believing in yourself and having faith, you will overcome them.
-Sheena M. Carey