Jack’s Normal

The Correa family live in Lunada Bay. Mark and Kristina Correa have three children; Megan (19 years old who attends Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), Jack (17 years old) and Ellie (10 years old) Their smiles are contagious and they generously share them. I first met Kristina when I noticed her dropping off Jack at PVIS when he was 14. Each day after the bell rang and the crazy flood of kids was over, Kristina would pull up, get out, walk around to the passenger door, gently grab her son’s hand and help him get out of the car so she could walk him to his classroom. After several days of watching this process I finally realized that Jack was blind. Kristina’s patient and calm diligence as she walked through this process each day was a reminder that during the most frustrating days I have had with my kids, they are still able to see the faces of their friends and the views around Palos Verdes. At the photoshoot for this article, Jack told us that he knows how to play the Piano Man by Billy Joel on the piano. This is when I realized that daily normals are very different.

“My brother, Jack, was born blind. He’s never known anything different. He’s had 14 surgeries on his eyes in hopes to save his retina, so hopefully, one day, he might be able to see. I’ve always been defensive and protective of him, because you can tell people look and wonder what’s wrong. It’s not that there’s anything wrong… he’s just blind. They look at him in a negative way, and there’s nothing wrong with him. He’s blind. That’s it. He’s no different from anyone else. Being blind is Jack’s normal. When he was born, I was still only 2, so it seemed normal. I think that’s helped me with who I am and how I treat other kids with disabilities. When I was in high school at PV High I had a club called the PV Social Scene and we had lunch with students with disabilities every Friday. We wanted to help with their social skills and create friendships. They loved it. Much of the reason I was so involved with students with special needs is Jack – because I grew up knowing nothing different; it just seemed so natural to me. Seeing how people don’t treat everyone the same doesn’t really make sense to me. I don’t want them to feel isolated because a lot of people treat them differently. I don’t want them to be held back because they have a disability. I want to be their friend.”
– Megan Correa

My son Jack has been blind since birth, but that really doesn’t define who he is: he still gets to experience most things sighted people do (Skiing, rock climbing, surfing) and honestly, we expect the same from him as a person and as a student that we do of his sisters. I’m fairly certain few people work as hard as he does just to get through his day-to-day, and he always does it with a smile and there are no bigger cheerleaders, protectors, than his two sisters.”
-Kristina Correa