ATLANTA — At 45 years old, James McMahon is one of the oldest in his class. But this isn’t the first time McMahon has been to college.
At 18, McMahon was diagnosed with Stargardt’s dystrophy, a rare genetic eye disease affecting his vision, making reading, writing and navigating campus an uphill battle.
In 2018, while enrolled in Georgia State’s Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program with the goal of becoming a history teacher, McMahon’s physical limitations became more of a challenge than he initially anticipated, forcing him to drop out.
“I’m legally blind and the graduate program is mostly reading and writing papers and it moves at such a fast pace,” McMahon said. “Because of my low vision, I couldn’t just get the book and start reading. I had to make special accommodations and by the time the books were ready on audio tape, we were on to the next book.”
McMahon eventually came back to Georgia State and worked toward getting his bachelor's degree in history.
To prepare for his classes, McMahon relies on the Georgia Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, which provides him with audio copies of the books he’s assigned to read, along with other instructional materials. McMahon also uses magnification features on his laptop to make reading classwork easier.
McMahon is graduating this May with his history degree.
“It feels great,” McMahon said. “I get excited with each passing day. But I still need to stay focused on the task at hand. It’s great to recognize this accomplishment, but I’m still focused on finishing what I started.”
McMahon has applied for Georgia State’s master’s degree program in history and said he’s better prepared this time around.
“I love to challenge myself. I want to push myself and see what I can do. I have these skills and I want to put them to use,” he said.
McMahon said he’s thankful for the support of his professors and the staff at Georgia State for helping him with this accomplishment. He hopes his story will inspire others who are struggling by showing them what can be achieved despite the odds.
“There are some things that I may be self-conscious about, but no one has ever said to me that I’m too old to do something. You’re never too old to try something new,” McMahon said. “This recognition is a nice side effect of the amount of hard work I’ve done to get to this point.”
-Photo by Raven Schley