Blind Man Has Vision To Help Others

Gabriel Lopez Kafati cooks in the dark.

When slicing a tomato he gingerly grabs it by the sides, carefully positioning the knife under his hand before dicing it in half. He’s become pretty adept at it, too. An impressive feat considering he is blind.

Lopez was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic condition that progressively degenerates the retina and causes vision impairments. His sight slowly deteriorated until he reached a point—eight years ago—where he couldn’t see at all.

“As I started losing more vision,” Lopez said, “I wasn’t able to function.”

But anyone who knows Lopez today agrees that he functions at a high level.

Four months ago he took a job at his alma mater, Miami Dade College. Lopez, 40, assists students with disabilities at North Campus through ACCESS Services as a part-time adaptive technology specialist.

The program provides special accommodations to students with disabilities, which often come in the form of adaptive technology. Examples of the services provided are: screen readers or magnification for their computers and special software that read books outloud. Lopez also advises departments at the College to assure their websites are accessible to students with disabilities.

“Gabriel is extremely responsible,” said Andrea Plunkett, the director of ACCESS Services at North Campus. “Very open to the students that come for assistance and definitely very patient.”

Co-workers Dayani Perez and Maria Otiniano describe Lopez as chivalrous, concerned with other people and super-sweet.

“[Working with Gabriel] is interesting. It’s a good interesting,” Perez said. “The reason why I say it’s a good interesting is because there are a lot of laughs. A lot of good moments.”

When he’s not at North Campus, Lopez works independently as a business consultant for private companies and nonprofit organizations, mainly within the blind community. He started working in that field after he moved to Miami from Honduras in 2009, and was unable to practice corporate law, which he has a degree in, because of the differences in the two countries’ legal systems.

Lopez first moved to Miami seeking a rehabilitation program to help him with his disability. In 2005, his condition worsened and he found the Miami Lighthouse For The Blind, a nonprofit organization serving the visually impaired and blind. He won a scholarship and took part in a program there for eight months, learning about orientation, mobility, and adaptive technology.

“[At Miami Lighthouse For The Blind] I learned to use all the adaptive technology that I’m working with [now],” Lopez said.

He eventually returned to Honduras, but permanently returned to Miami in 2009 to study marketing and international trade at North Campus. Lopez later earned a master’s degree in business administration from Barry University and landed several jobs, including a position at Baptist Health International, which represents international patients served by all the Baptist Health South Florida hospitals.

Lopez lives in a three-bedroom house in Miami Lakes. He enjoys culinary arts, concocting dishes that feature salads, chicken breasts and quinoa on the weekends. Lopez uses timers and thermometers and has developed a technique for chopping to safeguard against cutting his fingers.

He has also earned a reputation as a snazzy dresser. His look usually includes a button down shirt, dress trousers and a blazer to accent his formal attire. Lopez uses a color identifier, a device that works by taking a picture of the clothes he selects and then tells him what color it is.

“As I lost my vision, I said to myself: ‘Okay, I need to figure this out because I am not going to be dressing poorly’,” Lopez quipped, displaying his keen sense of humor.

An integral part of Lopez’s daily life is Posh, his mellow female guide dog. The pooch, a six-year-old yellow Labrador, was provided to him by the Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a nonprofit organization that trains dogs to assist people who are legally blind. The duo is inseparable.

Lopez applied for a dog at Guiding Eyes for the Blind four years ago. The process was tedious. To find the best match, the school got to know his personality, walking speed and voice pitch.

After matching him with several dogs that best fit his traits, the school trained them for four months. Lopez interacted with those dogs before he was matched with Posh; then they trained nonstop for a month in New York to build a strong bond.

Posh, who wears a brown leather harness when on duty, has proved invaluable when the tandem navigates the terrain at North Campus. She remembers patterns, like their usual walking path during lunch and has mastered anticipating Lopez’s every move.

For Lopez, the ability to adjust to ever-changing circumstances has empowered him to overcome adversity.

“It’s just a matter of adapting to everything,” Lopez said.