Blind Teacher Returns to Classroom

The start of the new school year has a new meaning for one Little Rock teacher--she`ll be returning without her eyesight. Latreese Evans has had eye problems since she was a child, but two years ago, a condition called uveitis claimed her vision. She had been teaching for seven years when it happened. Evans then spent two years on medical leave, getting training on how to use a cane and learning to read Braille. "The only thing I lost is my ability to see, not my ability to teach," Evans said. Evans was teaching special education before she took leave, and will be teaching it again when she returns on Monday. "When dealing with sight words, I will simply show the student the card and have the word Brailled on the backside, so that I`ll know what word they`re looking at," she explains. Evans also uses a few computer programs and has a teacher`s aide to help her do her job. Monday morning, she`ll be at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary. Evans says she wouldn`t keep teaching if she didn`t know that she could.