Bowie High School student Harley Fetterman is an avid reader. Right now he is working his way through his school's summer reading list, but he said he prefers the more entertaining, impractical worlds of characters in science fiction and fantasy books.

"I like them because they have a lot of adventure and excitement in them," he said. "I like Harry Potter, and I really like 'Eragon.'"

Fetterman, who was diagnosed with optic glioma—a tumor growing out of his optic nerve—at age 5, will test his reading skills along with 59 other blind students on June 22 during the national Braille Challenge Finals in Los Angeles. The purpose of the annual competition, sponsored by the Braille Institute of America Inc, is to promote braille literacy for blind children.

"I would encourage others to read in Braille because it helps you gain more independence in your reading ability," he said. "Also, personally I like being able to read Braille because I'm able to give voices to characters in stories rather than have a narrator choose their own voices."

Fetterman, who just completed ninth grade at Bowie, started learning to read Braille when he was 5 and he has since participated in about seven braille challenge competitions, his mother Beth Freeborn said.

To participate in the National Braille Challenge, students use the Perkins Brailler, a device that resembles a manual typewriter and includes one key for each of the six dot combinations that are used in Braille, Freeborn explained.

Fetterman will participate at the junior varsity level in the timed competitions, which test students' speed and accuracy, reading comprehension, ability to read charts and maps, and ability to correct sentences.

Freeborn said the competition enables visually impaired children from across the country to meet each other, and the camaraderie is an invaluable part of the overall experience for the students. She said it also highlights blind students' academic prowess.

"I hope that the people in Southwest Austin and all of Austin understand that these kids who are visually impaired are actually very capable," she said. "More than 1,000 people send in their scores from the regional challenge, and only 60 get to go to the competition, so just to get to the national Braille Challenge is an incredible feat."

When he graduates, Fetterman hopes to attend college and study engineering.

More information about the Braille Challenge is available here.