Blind Bartow Girl Inspires Through Music

BARTOW COUNTY, GA — A 3-year-old from Pine Log Elementary School has inspired her community through her love for music despite being diagnosed as blind shortly after birth. Brooklyn Grace Hunt suffers from septo-optic dysplasia, a rare congenital malformation of her optic nerves, pituitary gland, and midline part of her brain, Bartow County School System (BCSS) said in a news release.

“Because of this malformation of her pituitary gland, she will have lifelong endocrine issues, including diabetes insipidus, adrenal and growth hormone deficiencies, and hypothyroidism,” Lexie Hunt, Brooklyn's mother, said in the release.

Hunt has taken to music and enjoys singing and playing the guitar, banjo, xylophone, and drums. Hunt's family shares videos of her singing on social media and YouTube often.

“She shocked us all,” Missy Scoggins Smith, Hunt's grandmother, said. “We knew we had a little musician in the family right away. Without vision, she doesn’t see any obstacles, so she just approaches everything with an ‘I can do it myself’ attitude. It’s unreal how the other senses compensate when another is weakened or missing.”

Hunt is enrolled in a pilot pre-K class at the Center for the Visually Impaired in Atlanta and Pine Log Elementary School.