Grad student has 'vision' to achieve success

Aleatha Dickerson with her husband, Keith.

Grad student has 'vision' to achieve success

When Aleatha Dickerson received her master's degree during ceremonies last month, she also was honored with the Burrows Younkin Outstanding Clinical Laboratory Science Graduate Student Award. Dickerson can be especially proud of this honor, because not only did she study her way to the top of her department while juggling four children and a job, she did so with the added challenge of being blind.

Dickerson suffered from Stevens-Johnson syndrome in 1987, a rare allergic reaction that often results in scarring of the corneas, and which ultimately left her blind. At the time she already had a bachelor's degree and was working at the Rhode Island Hospital blood bank. Following a long recovery and with the full support of her husband, Keith, she decided to continue her education.

"The first thing I had to do was refresh my typing skills and learn how to use a computer," she said. "My coursework required a lot of reading and note taking, none of which I could do on my own."

But thanks to state Vocational Rehabilitation Services, she was able to purchase an electronic notebook that speaks the words she types and a scanner to input handouts. She also found that many of her textbooks were already available in audio format, and a volunteer reader from Insight recorded the rest.

With help from her advisor Gregory Paquette, director of URI's Clinical Laboratory Science program, Dickerson established an internship at the Rhode Island Blood Center aimed at recruiting minorities to register to become bone marrow donors.

"People who need a bone marrow donation are more likely to find a match with someone of a similar heritage," said Dickerson, whose heritage is both African American and Native American, "but there aren't a lot of minorities signed up with the national marrow donor program. If more were signed up they'd be more likely to find a match."

With her plan in place, Dickerson met with the directors of cultural diversity programs at local colleges who introduced her to various groups on campus. Her recruitment drive also took her to health fairs, heritage festivals and numerous other events that draw large diverse crowds.

Now that her degree is complete, Dickerson is faced with deciding what to do next. She enjoys her current job at the state Dept. of Human Services, where she is a rehabilitation teacher for older people who have become blind, but now that she's completed her clinical science degree, she also wants to work in that field.

"I'm going to be exploring my options to see where else in the state I might fit," Dickerson said. "One option I'm interested in is working with HIV patients, because many become blind."

Wherever she ends up, she'll be bringing along her seeing-eye dog, Pria, a black German shepherd. Pria attended all of Dickerson's classes and became the department's unofficial mascot.

By Todd McLeish