Ben Underwood lives in the suburbs of Sacramento, California,with his family, where he goes to the local high school. Like most 14-year-old boys, he loves to play with his friends and chat to girls of his age, with whom he seems very popular. He looks just like any other boy, until he removes his $4,600, hand-crafted eyes. Ben is blind and, like other blind people, he relies on some specialist equipment to survive. He uses talking computer software and a Braille machine to help with his homework.
Ben does not have a guide dog, does not use stick, and does not even use his hands to aid his mobility. Instead, he has developed something of a super sense: he is the only person in the world who navigates his way around using clicks. As he walks, he makes a continuous clicking noise with his tongue. As these clicks echo around him, he is able to draw up a detailed mental plan of his surroundings and adjust his direction accordingly.
His technique is so accurate that he is even able to go rollerblading on the street, negotiating narrow gaps between parked cars that even sighted children might find challenging. In fact, Ben’s mother, Aquanetta, finds that her son is far more attentive to the dangers of the road than his friends, always the first to move onto the pavement when a car approaches.
Ben first noticed his talent at the age of seven, when at summer camp. While it began as just a habit, Ben explains, he soon realised that it had potential benefits for navigation. He began to practise every day and developed the system to the point it is at today. It is the fact that Ben is entirely self-taught that is perhaps most astonishing and has led people to use the term ‘genius’ when referring to the boy.