Rice freshman lets nothing corral her adventurous spirit

No Boundaries
Rice freshman lets nothing corral her adventurous spirit

BY ARIE WILSON
Rice News staff

Baker College freshman Alysha Jeans may have been born blind, but she certainly sees more potential in the world than most people.

Maybe that’s because the 18-year-old has a simple motto: “I refuse to be held back.” That motto has helped take her around the world and will soon make her a minor celebrity.

Jeans traveled to Peru this past summer with Global Explorers, a nonprofit organization that specializes in international immersion experiences for students. The trip paired students with visual disabilities with able-bodied counterparts and was led by athlete Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind person to scale Mt. Everest. It was an experience the most visually gifted individual would have trouble describing.

During a 10-day trek through Peru last summer, Rice freshman Alysha Jeans toured Incan ruins and rural villages before hiking to Machu Picchu, the famed pre-Columbian city in the Andes Mountains. Jeans traveled with Global Explorers, a nonprofit organization that specializes in international immersion experiences for students. She was among the visually impaired students in the group, led by Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind person to scale Mt. Everest.

During the group’s 10-day trek through Peru, Jeans visited Cuzco, where she toured nearby Incan ruins; shopped at the Pisac Market, once a major Incan trading city; and hiked to an ancient Incan wall and fortress known as Qosqoq’awarina, “the place where one can see Cuzco.”

Before her hike to the famous ruins of Machu Picchu, Jeans and her fellow students stopped in the rural village of Chilipahua. There the group spent the day with young schoolchildren, many of whom walk hours each day to attend class. The American group handed out books, soccer balls and other gifts they had brought on the hike.

Jeans and her group then headed on toward the ancient Incan city located on a high ridge of a mountain that shares its name, Machu Picchu. During the journey, the group stopped near the village of Keska and camped one night at the edge of the Urubamba River. Both areas hold the ruins of Incan cities abandoned hundreds of years ago.

On the ninth day of her trip, Jeans and her group took a short train ride to Chachabama and hiked on to the famous ruins at Winay Wayna, where they joined the Inca Trail and pushed on to Intipunku, a major entry point for climbing Machu Picchu.

On the final day of the trip, Jeans finally made it safely across rocky terrain and ancient trails to some of the most famous ruins in the world. As she reached the top of Machu Picchu, Jeans was overwhelmed by her surroundings. Using her other sensations — hearing, touching and smelling — and relying on the visual descriptions of her sighted climbing partner, Jeans was able to formulate a mental picture of the ancient Incan city, nestled in the mountainside. She said it was certainly a trip worth taking.

“Machu Picchu was wonderful,” Jeans said. “It was truly an amazing thing to be a part of.”

But Peru wasn’t the first adventure for Jeans, a graduate of Wichita West High School in Wichita, Kan. She has been scuba diving, rock climbing and parasailing. For her 18th birthday this past July she went skydiving for the first time.

Jeans was born with Leber’s congenital amaurosis, an inherited degenerative retinal disorder characterized by a severe loss of vision at birth. Some may think that the daring activities she has undertaken might be difficult for someone with vision loss, but Jeans doesn’t believe so — and neither do those who have met her.

“The most difficult thing is overcoming stereotypes, and there are a lot of stereotypes out there,” Jeans said. “A lot of people have never met someone who is blind and don’t understand that being blind is just a part of life.”

Jeans said she learned early on that she can do anything a person with sight can, just in a slightly different way.

Director of Disability Support Services (DSS) Jean Ashmore and Zoe Honor, an adaptive technology disability specialist, have worked with Jeans to ensure the physics major has all the tools she needs to be successful at Rice.

In Jeans’ case, DSS provides Braille-translated textbooks, audio books, test-taking accommodations and other adaptive technology. Honor converts each of Jeans’ tests into Braille format and makes raised graphs so she has the same access to materials as any other Rice student would. An outside consultant was brought in to help Jeans learn the layout of Rice. She has been very quick to adapt to her new surroundings.

“Alysha is an adventurous person who loves life and cherishes new experiences,” Honor said. “We are lucky to have her here at Rice.”

Jeans, with her adventurous nature and infectious personality, will be featured in a television program produced by the Travel Channel this fall. The Travel Channel will be interviewing Jeans and filming her at Rice Sunday as part of a documentary on her trip with Global Explorers to Peru.