Meet Caleb Schlatter: a Salina kid overcoming vision impairment stigmas

About 10 minutes north of Salina lives Caleb Schlatter, a 13-year-old 7th grader who was diagnosed with his first visual impairment at seven months old.

The doctors told Caleb’s family that he has persistent fetal vasculature (PFV) in his left eye. PFV is a congenital developmental disorder that happens when the vascular structures fail to regress as they should during development, leaving him with very little vision in that eye.

In 5th grade, Caleb was diagnosed with nystagmus in his right eye. Vision in his right eye is good, but uncontrolled repetitive movements happen when he’s focusing on something or tired.

In the years since, he has developed and learned skills to manage the impairments. And this weekend, the homeschooled Salina student is taking another step toward breaking down tangible and make-believe barriers.

“There are not too many people young aged that have disabilities in their eyes,” Caleb said. “So it’s nice to show people we can do things.”

Make48 gives competitive platform to visually impaired students

Caleb will travel to the Kansas State School of the Blind Friday to compete in a Make48 competition. The event is a 48-hour competition where teams are presented with a challenge, then asked to build a physical prototype, create a sales sheet, produce a one-minute marketing video and pitch their idea to a panel of judges.

It has to be a completely new idea, too, one that isn’t yet patented.

Ahead of the event, lasting from noon Dec. 2 to noon Dec. 4, the teams are given a hint toward what the challenge might look like. This year’s hint was three inquisitive words: “chicken in the kitchen.”

“I like meeting other people with visual impairments and I’m looking forward to the competition,” Caleb said.

This particular Make48 competition is in collaboration with the Kansas State School for the Blind in Kansas City, Kansas. Competing teams will have access to expert tool technicians and high-tech equipment.

Each team will have three students connected to KSSB and one sponsor. Caleb’s sponsor is from the DeBruce Foundation.

Building leadership and community

This past summer, Caleb participated in a leadership conference called Level Up, put on by Envision, a non-profit that aims to improve the quality of life and provide inspiration for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Based out of Wichita, Envision and its programs aim to set the example that people with visual impairments have valuable skills and contributions to the workforce.

Caleb, along with other middle school and high school students addressed the learning gap between students who share similar visual impairment conditions and their sighted peers.

Caleb said one of his favorite things about the conference was realizing there were other kids in similar situations as he was, and that even so, they valuable had talents, skills and knowledge.

Visually impaired students were able to learn from chefs who taught knife skills, participate in technical education courses and learn computer skills with accessibility standards.

“It was showing that the kids could work with knives even though they couldn’t see them the best, and that they can use computers, they just need accommodations,” Caleb said.

Overcoming visual impairment stigmas

One important thing that KSSB and envision is working on, Karla Schlatter said, is the rate of unemployment among people with vision impairments.

In the U.S., 70% of people who experience low vision are unemployed. Non-profits and other agencies like Envision are developing programs to help show that people with visual impairments still have abilities and are worthy contributors in the workforce.

“Something we talked about some was having to step out to find community for Caleb,” Karla Schlatter said. “Caleb does very well and accommodates very well, but it’s nicer when he has community.”

Academically, Caleb is most interested in history, books of all kinds, and animal science. He raises a special breed of rabbit called the “Mini Rex,” which was developed to have especially soft fur. He raises them as pets and to show, but has bred and sold some in the past, too.

“I really enjoy that,” Caleb said. “Right now I’m taking care of four Mini Rexs.”

He’s also been involved in the local 4H for six years, another place he has been able to develop leadership and civic engagement skills.

As part of the local homeschool co-op, the Smokey Valley Home Educators, Caleb has participated in Lego competitions, choir and art classes. He likes the field trips they hold, too, like this fall when they went to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Museum in Abilene.

Caleb doesn’t always go out of his way to get involved – sometimes it just happens because of his interests, he said. Before this summer, he had a tough time talking to people his age about his visual impairment. Conferences like Level up was great, he said, because he was able to truly connect with people and feel empowered toward achievements.

“It’s just that, kids like me can still do these things, we just might need accommodations,” Caleb said.