Faces of Kansas City: Blind girl in academic competition - KCTV5

Many fans are rooting for the Royals this weekend, many are cheering for Sporting Kansas City, but some very special people are showing their support for an amazing 7-year-old girl from Prairie Village, KS.

Audrey Bethay loves the playground. When asked what her favorite subjects in school are she responded with "recess and computer lab."

She's a typical 7-year-old, but what she's really good at is reading.

"It's very cool ... we are really, really proud of her," Walter Bethay, Audrey's Dad, said.

It's very cool because Audrey Bethay's mom, dad and her brother are accompanying her to Los Angeles where she'll compete in the National Braille Competition.

"We do spelling, reading comprehension and proofreading," Audrey Bethay said. And when asked what she's best at: "I don't know. But I know I like proofreading."

Born with a rare genetic disorder, Audrey Bethay is legally blind.

"The way they describe her vision to us is, if we take a coffee cup and poke a hole in the bottom of it then look through it, the little hole in the bottom would be what her vision is," Walter Bethay said of his daughter.

Audrey Bethay is a good student at the Kansas State School for the Blind. Her parents said they always knew she was advanced for her age, but said they had no idea she'd be competing on a national level.

"We just always wanted her to fit in and feel good about herself and now she feels pretty good about herself," Kris Bethay, Audrey's Mom, said.

The girl's a whiz on her brailler. When asked to give a demonstration on it, her fingers were flying.

"I am getting interviewed by news people. They're asking me to Braille and now my mind is empty," she wrote.

Audrey Bethay and her family left for Los Angeles Thursday morning. The National Braille Competition takes place Saturday so keep your fingers crossed for her.

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UPDATE:

Bethay took home second place in the Apprentice category in The 12th Annual National Braille Challenge. She was one of the top 60 competitors chosen from among more than 900 blind and visually impaired students from across the U.S. and Canada to travel to Los Angeles to test her braille skills in the competition.

Bethay, along with other students ages six to 19 competed in categories that required them to transcribe, type and read braille using a device called a Perkins Brailler, all designed to test their skills in areas like reading comprehension, chart and graph reading, and proofreading.

The first- through third-place winners in each age group received a savings bond ranging in value from $500 for the youngest group to $5,000 for the oldest.

Bethay took second place in the Apprentice level of the competition, which features first and second grade students. The second grader jumped out of her chair and beamed a smile as she accepted the $375 cash prize for the purchase of a savings bond, a start trophy, a refreshable Braille display device called Focus 40 Blue Braille Display and an Apple iPad donated by Braille Institute. 

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