Page 48 - The Exceptional Harley Fetterman

JUDY K JOHNSON

Harley's love of having Cheetos for snack time in Kindergarten did
cause some minor frustration for Carolyn Mason, his VI coordinator.
His fingers, often coated with orange Cheetos dust, would end up
leaving orange streaks on Braille materials that she used to teach
Harley how to tactually track braille. She politely requested that Beth
might not send Cheetos to school with Harley on days when he had
Braille training.
During first grade, Harley began using the Mountbatten Brailler
which is an electronic Brailler which can attach a regular QWERTY
keyboard to it and produce basic Braille materials. Harley was able to
participate with a sighted student using the keyboard to input answers
that were brailled on inserted Braille paper. Harley's classmates
enjoyed getting chosen to work with Harley on shared activities. The
Mountbatten Brailler was useful that year because it took much less
energy to press the keys than on the stiff Perkins Brailler. When
Harley was having chemotherapy, his stamina was not sufficient to
use the Perkins Brailler.

Figure 13: Mountbatten Brailler

Mrs. Hester, counselor at Harley's school, told a story about one of
his teachers who had asked Harley's class to write down what they
were afraid of for a school project. Some students wrote about being
afraid of not having friends or afraid teachers wouldn't like them.
Harley's response was short, clearly defined, and nothing short of
amazing—yet truthful and believable. He simply wrote that he was

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