Beeping Easter eggs let visually impaired children participate in the hunt

NEWPORT BEACH — Looking for brightly colored Easter eggs is a tradition for some children. But what happens when you can’t see the eggs?

You listen for them.

About 50 visually impaired and sighted kids from the Blind Children’s Learning Center spent Friday morning, April 19, searching for beeping eggs during a hunt at Newport Dunes.

Isiah Ramirez, 4, was all smiles as he slowly moved his white cane from side to side through the grass hoping to find a beeping egg. When he discovered the noisy device he picked it up and held it close to his ear.

Ramirez, who was born with optic nerve hypoplasia, is completely blind. His mother, Elizabeth Vega, said he used to keep to himself, but events like this help him socialize.

“He’s able to interact with all the kids and all the teachers, it’s very fun for him,” she said. “He’s always happy.”

Kevin Fuhrmann, director of development at Blind Children’s Learning Center, said beeping eggs prevent children with vision impairment from missing out. “We don’t want our kids to be excluded from the simple joys of childhood,” he said.

The eggs were donated by the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators and assembled by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Jack Bering, a sighted student at the Blind Children’s Learning Center, is unsure of the Easter Bunny during the Beeper Egg Hunt in Newport Beach, CA, on Friday, April 19, 2019.  (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)