With These Two, Doing Is Believing Blindness Doesn’T Stop Twins From Taking On River

The sky was a bright and cloudless blue framed by lush green pines Tuesday as Jon and Richard Dunnick rafted the Spokane River.

But the 24-year-old twins from Rathdrum didn’t know it.

They don’t know what blue is. Or green, for that matter.

The two have been blind since birth, their eyes made useless after being born three months premature.

But being blind hasn’t stopped the two North Idaho College students from doing things many sighted people would find challenging.

Like kayaking.

For the last eight weeks, the brothers have learned Eskimo rolls, paddle strokes and balance in their kayaks on Lake Coeur d’Alene with about a dozen other students. The course fulfills a physical education credit at NIC.

“They really are a couple of real smart guys,” their instructor, Jason Luker, said. “I commend them for taking on such a challenge.”

Jon is also taking a hiking class with Luker “just for adventure,” he said.

The brothers paddled from Corbin Park to Stateline in an inflatable raft Tuesday, with their guide, Jed Sedlacek, in back. They weren’t quite ready to go through white water in their kayaks.

Sedlacek, who has been working with the Dunnicks during the course, has had to adjust his teaching style.

“I’m used to relying on color,” Sedlacek said. But with the Dunnicks he explains how things look and feel. Instead of showing how to move one’s body in the kayak, Sedlacek said he had to figure out other ways of making it clear.

“They need to feel stuff,” he said. “But they get comfortable with it pretty fast. I was amazed they didn’t get frustrated.”

Although the brothers have a hard time knowing whether they are traveling in a straight line, their other senses are keen.

Sound alone tells them a lot.

“Chevy,” Richard said as a beat-up truck gunned its engine at Corbin Park. He was right.

They’ve memorized the exits along I-90 and know where they are almost all the time.

The two have gone canoeing and say they’re pretty good swimmers.

“You just have to follow somebody’s voice,” Jon said.

The Dunnicks have been taking classes at NIC since 1994. Some of their textbooks come on cassette; others are in Braille.

Richard hopes to become a singer. Jon wants to join NIC’s computer program.

“I like to take apart computers and find out what’s wrong with them,” he said.

Whatever they do, Richard said, their disability won’t slow them down much.

“If you put your mind to it, you can do just about anything,” Richard said. “Except drive or fly.”

With a conspiratorial smile, he admitted that he’s driven before. He just had a little trouble with the stick shift.