Blind attorney’s tips on remembering what you see

© 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

When school board members and administrators have a question about school law or board policy, they ask Lucas Harder, Arkansas School Boards Association staff attorney. He’s a legal expert, and he’s legally blind. 

Harder’s ability to cite chapter and verse of a particular statute or piece of legislation has made him a trusted source of information and an object of awe for ASBA conference attendees.

Harder, 37, was born blind in his right eye with limited vision in his left. He could read regular-sized print at four inches and said he wasn’t really hindered. 

Then at age 13, he suffered a total retinal detachment that left him blind for nine weeks. Doctors removed his lens, which left him farsighted and substantially more limited. A membrane formed where his lens had been. Doctors removed it, but it returned. He became totally blind his high school senior year in October 2005. 

Harder said the temporary loss of vision in the eighth grade was the more traumatic of the two events. The silver lining was that it prepared him for what would happen later. 

“I had my plan, I had things in place, and so it was much better than it would have been if I hadn’t gone through the previous hardship,” he said.

Harder did not let his challenges stop him from succeeding. He earned his law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. He did use Braille some, but by then most information was available electronically and audibly.

Vision is still a part of Harder’s life. He visualizes when he dreams. He still pictures things and people, even though he can’t see them. 

Otherwise, he relies on his other senses and on various techniques to help him make his way through the world. His brain interprets what his other senses are telling him, and not just sound. Temperature changes can give him an idea where he is. The confinement of the airway might tell him he’s in a hallway. When he first moved into his home, which he owns, in 2016, he learned where the bus stops were located, how to walk from the stop to the office, and what the obstacles were. However, he won’t walk through the crowded Capitol without assistance. Too many people.

I asked Harder how he maintains so much information in his head. He attributed part of it to “lucky genetics.” He’s always had a detailed memory, particularly with numbers. The rest is diligence and hard work. Over the course of a legislative session, he creates a word processing document for each bill he’s following. Constant updating cements the information in his memory. On the other hand, if he doesn’t need to remember information – like a phone number – he doesn’t try to.

Harder said there are times when he’s working harder than other people, and other times when he’s just working differently. When he needs to access information during a phone conversation, he can do so quickly using a headphone and an audible computer program known as JAWS – Job Access With Speech.

I asked him if perhaps his memory is better because his brain is not being scrambled by flashing screens and a constant flow of visual information. He said it’s true that he’s not getting that continuous digital hit. However, Facebook and other time wasters are available in audible form to blind people, too. He just chooses not to use them.

What advice would Harder give sighted people about how they can better remember things? He said we should write down information, slow down, and stop trying to be so efficient. It’s not helping us.

“Taking the two extra minutes it would take to slowly read the email than to skim through it – it will save you more time on the back end because you will have taken in the full information,” he said.

He said memory methods will vary from person to person.

“Everyone has their own way in which their brain naturally retains information better,” he said. “Some people do it audibly. Some people do it visually. Some people do it kinetically. So it is one of those where if you can try different things, and then pay attention to, oh, I did this thing for that thing and it helped it stick in my mind, then that may be just what works better for you.”

Steve Brawner’s column is syndicated to 19 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.