Natalie O’Reilly, is a fourteen-year-old girl who will lose her sight in a matter of months, Blindsided. All that she could have done when she felt a sensation in her eyes was to do a routine visit to the eye, until one day the doctor gives her devastating news that she was going to Natalie will lose her sight. She does as she’s told; inwardly, she hopes for a miracle that will free her from a dreaded life of blindness.
Although she knows she is losing her sight, Natalie doesn’t want to admit it. She doesn’t want to be the freak on the block, the one that needs help. That is why she doesn’t want to go to school for the blind. She doesn’t want to learn Braille or learn how to use a cane to walk.
But the miracle does not come, and Natalie ultimately must confront every blind person’s dilemma. Her fear was that she will go home to live scared or she embrace the skills she needs to make it in a world without sight.
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Part 1: Main Character of Blindsided
Natalie
One thing you will quickly learn about Natalia in Blindsidedis that she grew up on a goat farm and has juvenile glaucoma. When she was blind the only option was to go to a school for the blind which was against her will. Natalie’s dad and mom had to make her go to the blind school. Thanks to the goat farm they owned that help them cover the fees for her eye treatment.
Dr Rose
Dr. Rose is Natalie’s doctor in Blindsided, who never promises Natalie that her vision is going to get better. To him, it was a 50\50 affair. He wasn’t so sure she was going to have her sight back and that was why he never tried to assure her.
Serene and Bree
Serena is the first person at the blind school that Natalie becomes friends with, and for a while, she’s the only one. While Bree is the new girl at the blind school. Originally, Natalie had a room to herself, but now she has to share it with Bree, who is very cranky 24/7 until Natalie reaches out to her, Blindsided.
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Part 2: Main Story of Blindsided
Fourteen-year-old Natalie O’Reilly was born without irises – a condition known as sporadic aniridia. It is this condition that is the cause of her juvenile glaucoma and the resultant gradual loss of her eyesight in Blindsided. Despite daily eye drops and numerous operations to control the pressure in her eyes, the inevitable seems to be happening. Natalie is going blind.
Natalie initially resists attempts to prepare for such a situation and develop the skills she might one day require, hoping that she will be spared total vision loss. She is living in denial. She gradually went blind and learned to accept her vision loss and her life situation.
Natalie’s vision began to deteriorate when she was eight years old, when her peripheral vision began to fade, “it’s like the world shrank.” Reading soon becomes difficult, and as her vision deteriorates, daily life becomes more difficult. She has difficulty locating her classrooms and taking notes.
Natalie’s vision eventually deteriorates to the point where she is referred to the Baltimore Center for the Blind to learn the skills she requires, such as reading braille, using a cane, and learning to function as a vision-impaired person in a sighted world.
Natalie is resistant and surprised when she first arrives at the Center. When she is told that she will be given a sighted tour of the Center on her first day, she believes it is unnecessary. Natalie is terrified and in denial about her future in Blindsided. Her mother tells her that it is now time for her to learn the skills she will require. Natalie, on the other hand, is unprepared for this.
“But it couldn’t be time,” Natalie reasoned. New abilities would only be required if she went blind, which she couldn’t do. Natalie didn’t want to go blind. No way! It going to be a dark world. Natalie tries to make deals with God in the hopes of retaining her vision. But when it appears that God is not listening, she is filled with rage and doubt.
Natalie not only has to cope with her own feelings but also with those of her parents and friends. She struggles to hang onto her friends who continue to attend classes at what was once her high school. In, the end though, Natalie succeeds in coming to terms with her visual impairment and comes through an especially difficult trial to realize that life is worth living, despite being blind.
Natalie was a believable, well-drawn character whom readers will sympathize with. If anything she will help young readers understand better the world of the visually impaired.
There is really no complaint about the sexual content which to me was relevant to the storyline, to spice it up a bit. It is a good fit for authors of YA books to think about including some subtle and non-aggressive sexual content in their books in order to keep mature-thinking readers interested.
The inclusion of these episodes really serves a lot of purpose to the plot or character development and sure make the story a complete feat.