Navigating a sighted world with a white cane is a bitter life for some.
But not Mac Coates.
His cheerfulness is infectious despite a genetic eye disease that robbed him of his sight as a young man, leaving him in permanent darkness.
“I’m happy because I’ve learned how to use my independent living skills. I’m glad I can do things for myself,” said the 71-year-old Pittsburg resident.
Coates was in his late 20s when the gradual loss of peripheral vision forced him out of his job as a fry cook because he had earned a reputation for being accident-prone.
