[upbeat music]
- Hi, Cherub, come on.
Come on buddy.
- NARRATOR: Meet Cole Johnson.
- COLE: So I've been volunteering here
for six years now.
- NARRATOR: He loves dogs.
- COLE: This is Cherub.
We normally take him for a walk
and the point of going for a walk
is to get them used to a leash.
Good boy, Cherub.
So getting used to traffic sound so they're not terrified
of that really loud traffic sound whenever they get adopted.
- NARRATOR: Cole comes here every week
to help get these dogs outside
and one step closer to a new home.
- COLE: To watch them open up...
Get it.
...and to be trusting to people
and wanting to get attention
and wanting to play and loving life,
that's the big one for me.
- NARRATOR: Loving life, that's what this story is about.
You see Cole keeps a very bright outlook
considering that he is legally blind.
- COLE: It's slowly gone to where it is now
and it will continue slowly going.
- TECHNICIAN: Other side, same thing.
- COLE: And they could go unstable and I can lose,
lose it all, you know, very quickly.
Just trying to, you know, use what I have
while I have it.
-Good to see ya. -Good to see you.
-How ya been? -Good.
-Been doing all right? -Um-hum.
- Good, excellent.
I noticed that you're having some difficulties
still kind of with the lights, and light sensitivity,
is that right?
-Yes. -Yeah.
Anything else?
So it started out where he wasn't seeing as well
wondering if he needed maybe a change in glasses.
- I can't do the next one.
- That was not it, it was,
actually the functioning of the cells was degenerating
and that was causing the decrease in his vision
and in his function.
- I have cone-rod dystrophy with ring scotoma.
The cone-rod dystrophy has to do with the retina.
- DR. MILLER: And this area has some splotchiness to it.
- COLE: So over a distance my clarity and detail
is worse and worse the further it goes.
The same, in five is worse. - Worse, okay.
- COLE: And then the ring scotoma...
- Tell me if it ever disappears.
-Right there. -Right there, okay.
- COLE: ...is the big blind spot
that goes around in the center of my vision.
So I can see on the very outside
and then there's a big ring, or a donut that is blind,
and then I have the very center.
- It's kind of unpredictable, we don't know.
Probably even do that little tiniest one.
Am I gonna wake up tomorrow
and it's gonna be decreased or diminished?
- TECHNICIAN: Big, big eyes, that's it.
- DR. MILLER: Am I gonna wake up, you know, in 10 years,
and not be able to see anything?
- Flash.
- But he's really accepted it well
and he's doing as much as he can with his vision loss
and it's awesome.
Good, you can sit back and relax, I know, whew.
- COLE: You have a little lip right there.
- NARRATOR: Cole's day job is as a disability specialist.
- COLE: I'll measure the doorway.
I'm familiar with all the laws and rules
which just means a lot of measuring-- 35 inches.
And just make sure that
people with any ability can get in.
The only two things that I found were the door width
is one inch too short, and then the handle itself
needs to be one that someone doesn't have to grab it.
I'm gonna use my phone to measure the slope,
- NARRATOR: Cole is here to check the trail
down to the park's waterfall.
- COLE: Is the water up or low right now?
- It's up, we got a little rain.
- COLE: All right.
- TOMMY: This trail right here that we're on,
this is the Onion Creek Hike and Bike Trail,
this is the most popular trail in the park
and McKinney sees about 300,000 visitors a year
and we're always looking for ways
to make it more accessible.
[water gurgling]
- About one in five Texans, 20%,
have a disability of some kind
and for 20% of the population to not get to the falls,
or whatever brings people to that state park,
they should be allowed to get there
just like anybody else can.
- TOMMY: Absolutely, it's just having a level of knowledge
and then looking through that knowledge as a lens.
- 7.8% slope right here.
- TOMMY: So what would be a goal slope?
-Five percent. -Five percent?
And looking at how we can rearrange this,
or look at this in a different way
to make things more accessible for folks.
- It's all pretty good, it's a little steep,
if they just have like maybe one or two resting spots,
or make the slopes just a little bit better,
not quite as steep,
it wouldn't be much of a problem at all.
- TOMMY: Excellent.
- COLE: And to be able to point it out, you know,
it turns on a light bulb for people
and it feels great to be able to do that
and to help people see stuff that they just don't see.
[water gurgling]
- NARRATOR: Just like you and me,
Cole has to hit the store.
- We are shopping at HEB for my groceries.
I come about once a week, my house mate brings me.
I generally know where most stuff is,
not all the time-- jalapenos.
Like for produce, I can't really see if it has a bad spot
so I'll feel it more, that one's good,
and use my sense of touch more than my eyes.
Tomatoes can be kinda hard,
has a little bad spot on it I can feel it.
Squishiness isn't necessarily a bad thing with tomatoes.
That'll work.
- NARRATOR: What may seem like a simple shopping trip...
- COLE: Depends on how my eyes are that day.
- NARRATOR: ...can sometimes get complicated.
- What in the hell,
they moved my pasta sauce
and I don't know where it is
so I have to take a picture and look for it on my phone.
I can tell that there is glass jars full of red sauce.
I can't read any kind of words or labels.
That's it right there and it's right above coupons,
it's right there right where the aisle breaks.
- NARRATOR: Cole takes the challenges in stride.
- COLE: That one.
- NARRATOR: He's even more confident in the kitchen.
- So cooking has always been something I've always enjoyed
ever since I was a kid.
I don't really use my eyes.
I just kinda feel around and I've taught myself
how to keep my fingers out of the way.
I use deer pretty much all the time.
Knowing that, you know,
I know exactly where this thing came from,
I know how it was harvested because I did it.
Garlic powder.
That is important to me
and I do like that I have that knowledge of, you know,
where it's coming from.
[meat sizzling]
It smells like cinnamon,
they're a great combination.
Time for cheese.
I love to eat, to begin with, [chuckling]
I also like to cook, so,
I should be able to do whatever I enjoy,
regardless of what vision I do or don't have.
They're done.
My eyes, they have influence on my life,
but they don't control my life.
So if I wanna cook then I'm gonna cook,
If I wanna eat, I'm gonna eat.
[upbeat music]
And if I wanna hunt, I'm gonna hunt.
That's just kinda been my life.
My eyes affect me, yes.
It was a fawn, but I think he ran off.
But I'm still gonna do what I love
and that's the bottom line.
[windmill creaking]
[turkeys gobbling]
I enjoy being out,
just watching the deer, the birds,
you know, whatever it else is moving around
'cause it's relaxing.
- NARRATOR: For scouting trips,
Cole uses his tiny video camera
to get a closer look.
- COLE: And I had this idea, just hey,
I wonder if I started recording,
I can kinda record stuff that I can't see with binoculars,
I can zoom in more.
A few deer down there.
I also have videos of a few fights that we've had.
It's super cool.
I mean, you can see it coming right before it happens
they get all big and stiff and ears tucked back and...
[horns thumping]
...a lot of people don't get to see that.
It's cool to watch for sure.
- NARRATOR: Cole and his dad, Jody,
have been hunting here since 2011.
- I just fell in love
with the South Texas brush country
and everything down here will sting ya,
scratch ya, or bite ya, it doesn't matter.
And in the cool of the evenings, or the early mornings,
it just transitions into like a huge zoo,
there's so many different animals that come up.
I mean, there's all kinds of different species
from tortoises, to cottontails,
to bobcats,
to big white-tailed deer, and man, it's crazy,
it's just the wildest place in Texas, I think.
- COLE: I mean, I'm just like anybody else down here.
- JODY: You got your knife, buddy?
There you go.
- COLE: You know, some of the typical ranch chores,
filling feeders and
gettin' firewood.
[grunts]
I'm gonna do 400.
- JODY: You're gonna shoot a 400?
- COLE: Yep.
Checking to make sure my rifle is, you know,
good to go, accurate.
- JODY: Nice and slow.
- COLE: In general, I mean,
I can do just what anyone else can do here.
[whoosh] [ping]
- JODY: Bingo [laughing]
- Oh, I hit it the first shot, holy moly.
- JODY: He loves to spend so much time
out here at the ranch.
Oh man, that was awesome.
And he just excels in it in so many ways
and it's, it's just a wonderful experience
to be able to watch somebody grow up
and enjoy that part of their life.
Man, it's great, in the South temperatures,
rare cold morning, it oughta be a good hunting day, right?
- COLE: Yes sir.
You know, kinda the primary bonding time I have with my dad,
we both enjoy it, we have this opportunity to do it,
so it's pretty much what we do.
[gentle guitar music]
- JODY: We got a lot of deer.
Typically a pretty populated part of the ranch,
a good place to be.
- NARRATOR: To shoot safely, these two run down a checklist
before Cole ever pulls the trigger.
- JODY: We identify what deer we're looking at.
Okay, to the right of the feeder?
- COLE: Yes, sir.
- JODY: There's a good doe standing out there.
You know, he knows what I wanna know,
and I know what he needs to know.
You got her?
- COLE: Broadside?
- JODY: Um-hum.
It just connects and it really comes together
and when it happens, it's really a great experience.
How you feel?
- COLE: I feel good.
Just because you have a disability...
[gun shot]
...whatever it is. -Good shot.
- COLE: You can still get out
and experience, you know, the outdoors and nature.
- JODY: Way to go.
- COLE: You know, you can get out and you can do it.
- JODY: It's the greatest feeling in the world.
One, two, three, cheese, all right.
Man, you know, just the feeling to be able
to watch him succeed,
it'd make any dad proud.
- NARRATOR: And that evening,
who do you think is back in the blind
enjoying the last beautiful light of one more day?
- To be able to see it now, while I still can...
...but just to have it here
and have the opportunity at my age with
how my eyes are now, and just, you know,
using the vision that I have, while I have it.
I'm not gonna waste it.
[light guitar music] [crickets chirping]