Blind bridge player plays the cards he was dealt

By Joe Stumpe/The Active Age

ANDOVER — Neighbors were skeptical when Tom Hanson said he’d like to join their bridge group.

“In the beginning, they thought it would be too difficult, too much to remember, and they just didn’t see how somebody without sight could do that,” said Hanson, who’s been blind since he was 6.

That was all the motivation he needed.

“Once somebody says you can’t do something, it gives me extra motivation,” Hanson said. “And secondly, I have a pretty good memory, and I’m a decent card player.”

Hanson soon became part of a regular bridge game in Harbor Cove, a community near Florida’s west coast where he and his wife, Sue, were living.

Six months after their move to Kansas, he’s now part of the twice-weekly bridge games at the Andover Senior Center. Whatever their thoughts when Hanson first walked in with his guide dog, Hank, the other regulars look forward to competing with and against him today.

“It’s phenomenal what he can do,” said Susie Schultz. “He has an absolutely amazing memory. He can tell you every card that has been played and who’s bid what.”

About the only difference when Hanson is playing is that the other players name the number and suite of cards as they are turned over. Also, the cards used when he plays have Braille markings on them, so he knows what’s in his own hand. He occasionally asks for a confirmation or reminder of what cards have been played.

Hanson has spent a lifetime coping with blindness and other physical ailments and almost as long helping others do so. He was raised in Stevens Point, Wis., and lost his sight due to Sticker’s Syndrome, a hereditary condition that affects connective tissue throughout the body. He’s had knee- and hip-replacement surgery, suffers from arthritis and recently underwent carpal tunnel surgery on his hands. His father was blind and a brother is legally blind.

He attended school 150 miles from home at the Wisconsin School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Janesville, returning home for holidays and summer, then earned a degree on the University of Wisconsin’s Stevens Point campus.

His first job came between his junior and senior years of college, when he taught Braille, daily living skills and woodworking for the Montana Association for the Blind. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, he earned a masters degree in rehabilitation teaching from Western Michigan University. 

Hanson met his first wife, Diane, who was also totally blind, while working at the Michigan Rehabilitation Center for the Blind in Kalamazoo. They moved to Oregon where he worked as a field worker for the Oregon Commission for the Blind, and then on to Indianapolis for a staff development job with a rehabilitation center. He subsequently joined the faculty at Cleveland State University, training educators to work with newly blinded people.

After Diane died of complications from diabetes, he met Sue, who is sighted, while she was running the aids and appliances center for the Cleveland Society for the Blind. “I was waiting for an order, and she forgot to tell me when it arrived,” Hanson said. “Thinking that the best defense is a good offense, she tried to cover up her error by being very friendly. I thought she was flirting with me, so I asked her out.” They have been married 47 years.

Hanson also worked for the Minneapolis Society for the Blind and State of Illinois. In the latter post he was deputy director of all state services for the blind. Along the way, he earned a doctorate in education leadership.

Hanson said a “mid-life crisis” sent him into childhood education. He returned to Wisconsin’s state school for the blind as a teacher and eventually became superintendent. “I was the first graduate of that school to become the administrator of that school.”

The couple took early retirement to travel, buying an RV and making trips to Arizona for baseball spring training — Tom is a sports fan — Alaska and New England. They were active in their Florida community. But after experiencing their third hurricane, Hanson said, “We thought maybe it’s time for a change of scenery.”

They have no family or other ties to Kansas but did some research and decided the Wichita area “was the place to be.”

“We missed the seasons,” Hanson said. “She (Sue) missed the colors.”

The couple looks forward to exploring the area and meeting more of its residents. 

Hanson has experienced many improvements in technology designed to help blind and visually impaired people. As a college student, for instance, he recorded class lectures on a bulky reel-to-reel tape recorder. He can still read Braille fluently and quickly calculate sums on an abacus, an ancient counting and memory aid device. But today, he has a talking calculator and another device — called a Victor Reader — that will both record and play books, newspapers and other media in a talking format. His computer is equipped with JAWS, a screen-reading device. In cases where he needs to “see” something, there’s a free cell phone app called Be My Eyes that connects him with a sighted volunteer who can view his surroundings through his cell phone’s cameras. Sue is a Be My Eyes volunteer.

Organization in daily life is another key, he said. For instance, cans in the couple’s kitchen are arranged alphabetically or carry homemade magnetic Braille labels. Counters and floors are kept clutter free.

As increasing numbers of older Americans experiencing blindness or visual impairment due to more people living longer, Hanson said there are ways for them to live as normally as possible.

“Most people consider blindness like cancer — you can’t do anything,” he said. “Once you’re blind, you’re helpless and all that kind of thing. That’s not true at all, especially in this day and age. There’s so much out there that can help people.”

“You can adapt. Your life isn’t ending, it’s just beginning with some new challenges.”