Lucas Murray from Poole, Dorset, was born blind, but is one of the first British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 people to learn to visualise his surroundings using a technique similar to bat

Bat

Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...

s and dolphin

Dolphin

Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...

s, called echolocation

Human echolocation

Human echolocation is the ability of humans to detect objects in their environment by sensing echoes from those objects. By actively creating sounds – for example, by tapping their canes, lightly stomping their foot or making clicking noises with their mouths – people trained to orientate with...

. By the echo caused by clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth, Murray can identify how close objects are, and what they are made of. He was taught the technique by another blind person, Daniel Kish

Daniel Kish

Daniel Kish is an American expert in human echolocation and President of World Access for the Blind, a non-profit founded in 2000 to facilitate "the self-directed achievement of people with all forms of blindness" and increase public awareness about their strengths and capabilities, which has...

 from California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Biography

Murray was born in Poole in Dorset with complex medical needs including Septo-Optic Dysplasia (S.O.D.). He was blind from birth but this was not confirmed until he was 5 months old. At this stage his parents, Sarah and Iain, believed his blindness would cause him problems. However, Sarah and Iain watched a documentary about a young American called Ben Underwood, a boy who used echo-location that he had taught himself to a very high level. In the documentary, Daniel Kish, founder of the World Access for the Blind charity, spoke about not only echo-location but the importance of a Long Cane

White cane

A white cane is used by many people who are blind or visually impaired, both as a mobility tool and as a courtesy to others. Not all modern white canes are designed to fulfill the same primary function, however: There are at least five varieties of this tool, each serving a slightly different...

. Many months after seeing the documentary

Documentary

A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...

on television, Sarah discovered that Daniel would be visiting a Scottish Charity called Visibility, so contacted him and asked if he could visit Lucas. Daniel Kish, a 41-year-old blind Californian, alongside Brian Bushway from World Access For The Blind taught the basics of echo-location and the importance of a suitable Long Cane to Lucas over the course of four days in 2007.
Sarah says that the echo-location and "No Limits Approach"[14] has given Lucas a "fantastic future".[7] His parents have set up a charity called Common Sense,[15][16] which aims to provide support for parents and carers of visually impaired children. They also offer long white canes to children in the UK, through The Common Sense Children's Cane Bank.

Using echolocation

Lucas' mother Sarah says that, at seven years old,his independence is improving almost every day, and can play with other children in sports such as rock climbing and basketball. Lucas identifies the distance of objects by timing the time that the echo from him clicking takes to return, and from the sound which bounces back he can also tell the density and shape. Lucas is the first British pupil to receive a comprehensive program in advanced echo-location, and was nicknamed "Bat Boy" by the UK's Sun Newspaper, because of the similarity between echolocation and the use of sonar to picture surroundings used by bats. Kish is reported to have said that Lucas' "mobility is amazing", and that he is the "best for his age in the UK". However, Kish wrote to Lucas' parents and other reporters, unpublished, that he actually said, "Lucas' mobility is among the best in the U.K. for his age in my experience." Lucas says that he really likes the system. Lucas also uses a Long White cane to find objects near his feet. He uses an AmbuTech Telescopic Cane because it is light in weight and has a ceramic tip. At the proper length, it comes up to his nose when upright.