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A human interest story you will have to read to believe.

Ben is a 14-year old who enjoys skateboarding, video games, kickball and basketball – to watch him you wouldn’t believe that he does not have eyes. Ben was diagnosed with retinal cancer at age 2, and lost his ability to see when he was three. However, that has not kept him from doing all of the things that he wants to do.

Most amazingly, Ben uses echolocation to “see” objects. By clicking with his tongue, he is able to perceive distances, objects and obstacles in his path. By hearing the echo, Ben can tell what is ahead and what it is made of. He is truly a special young man and is baffling the experts.

Having lived with a father who has combated Multiple Sclerosis for over 20 years, I am always overwhelmed to hear stories of people who demand not to be considered “special” or “victims of circumstance.” People who demand to live life the way they want with no special treatment or quarter given to them is an amazing and inspirational story every time. We all have something to learn from the will and determination demonstrated by these inspirational few.

There’s Ben zooming around on his skateboard outside his home in Sacramento; there he is playing kickball with his buddies. To see him speed down hallways and make sharp turns around corners is to observe a typical teen – except, that is, for the clicking. Completely blind since the age of 3, after retinal cancer claimed both his eyes (he now wears two prostheses), Ben has learned to perceive and locate objects by making a steady stream of sounds with his tongue, then listening for the echoes as they bounce off the surfaces around him. About as loud as the snapping of fingers, Ben’s clicks tell him what’s ahead: the echoes they produce can be soft (indicating metals), dense (wood) or sharp (glass). Judging by how loud or faint they are, Ben has learned to gauge distances.

The technique is called echolocation, and many species, most notably bats and dolphins, use it to get around. But a 14-year-old boy from Sacramento? While many blind people listen for echoes to some degree, Ben’s ability to navigate in his sightless world is, say experts, extraordinary. “His skills are rare,” says Dan Kish, a blind psychologist and leading teacher of echomobility among the blind. “Ben pushes the limits of human perception.”

I can’t do much more for this story other than to quote a few paragraphs and to tell you that you have to read the entire story. The Boy Who Sees with Sound - People.com