It’s been more than two years since he turned 16.

But rather than worrying about taking drivers ed classes, doing drive times with his parents, or making an appointment at DMV,  Luke continues to have his parents drive him everywhere.

But it’s not out of choice.

It’s out of necessity, as Luke was born with Microphthalmia, a condition that rendered his left eye too small to allow for him to see out of it.

“I have what’s called Microphthalmia, which is Latin for small eye,” senior Luke Newcombe said. “It’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It means that when I was born, my eye was not fully developed as you would expect. So, some of the nerves weren’t properly connected. Because of that I my eye wasn’t functioning, and it was too small, so I had to get a prosthetic, which is just a fancy word for a fake eye. I can’t see out of that eye. I can only see out of my right eye, and I have some other assorted visual issues in my right eye, which makes my vision really bad there. But the main thing is my Microphthalmia in my left eye.”

The Newcombe family had a bit of a bittersweet moment in the short hours after Luke was born, finding out that their new baby boy had something different about him that would initially change the course of early life for the three of them.

“I was devastated,” mom Deana Newcombe said. “It was the saddest day of my life. It was such a glorious occasion when Luke was born, happiest happiest moment, and then the next morning my whole world was flipped upside down. It was truly unbelievable. It was hard to comprehend what they were telling me and to understand that each eye had a different condition, and I was supposed to remain calm at the same time knowing that my child could be totally blind. It was, it was hard as a mother to accept that, and I felt blame. I had a wonderful pregnancy, so of course it was very hard to accept.”  

For dad Richard Newcombe, Luke’s condition meant the possibility of certain roadblocks on Luke’s journey through life.

“You know first we didn’t have a full understanding of what his issues or problems were,” dad Richard Newcombe. “So, that was a big mystery and we were not really sure what we were facing. You don’t want your child to have any obstacles. You want to remove those obstacles, and have them have every opportunity to be successful in their lives. To just start out, out of the gate with a potentially very serious obstacle was tough.”   

Luke’s condition left him without a functioning left eye, but it also impaired his right eye as well, leaving him unable to  do what many students 16 and older take for granted.

“I can’t drive,” Luke said. “Obviously, you need two eyes to drive. The DMV has limits set on what level of perception you need, like how far each side you have to be able to see, and obviously because I’m not, you know, I can’t see out of one eye, I don’t have as good of like a field of view and everything. So, I can’t see as far as other people and can’t see as wide, and so I actually can’t drive at all. So, 18, and don’t have a learner’s permit or anything.”

With Luke’s inability to drive, the Newcombe family has looked into driverless cars, a developing self-driving technology, intended to help people with vision impairments like Luke.

“I’m really glad I was born in today’s age and not like a 100 years ago or even 50, or 20 years before I was born,” Luke said. “Because, not just for people like me who can’t drive currently, they’re going to revolutionize the way everyone drives and everything. Until they’re like mass markedly available with the public and everything, after a while public transportation and Uber, but even that’s not that bad. I’m lucky to live in a world that has a lot of solutions for people who don’t drive or can’t drive. But, I’m definitely looking forward to when I can get one.”

However, his impairment doesn’t stop at being unable to drive, it also affects his everyday life.

“Some of the day-to-day things people do and use their eyes for, it is a bit harder for me,” Luke said. “Something that is super obvious to someone who’s ever seen me or seen what I do in day-to-day life, when I look at electronics or computer or phone or iPad, I have to look really close and everyone’s like ‘oh you have such thick glasses why do you have to get that close, it’s bad for your eyes,’ but I mean I literally have to otherwise I won’t be able to see it. So, it looks really awkward when I’m holding my laptop like this, but it’s what I have to do.”

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Through the eyes of Luke Newcombe

As Luke continues his journey through high school and on to his future, the Newcombes know that their son has the ability to adapt to new encounters and experiences.

“I think any parent wants their child just to fit in as every child does just want to fit in,” Deana said. “Luke was bullied I think in middle school, and it took a while before Luke came and told us. I think he tried to deal with it the best that he could. Then until he felt that it was beyond his control, he came and spoke to us, and then that’s when we actually spoke with the principal of the school and quickly put a stop to that. My goal for Luke is that he lives his life that God has planned for him. I think that God has a mission for Luke, and has chosen Luke to carry out his plan, and that is really to help others see more by seeing less. He has big plans to go to college, to grad school, married with kids, and I hope I’m here to see all those glorious things, but when I’m not I know that God has him in his hands and will guide him and will be with him every step of the way of his life.”   

While Luke may live with more challenges than the average high schooler, he is determined to not let them stop him from having a bright future.

“I think like a lot of people like to put other people in these boxes when it comes to like who they are,” Luke said. “Everyone wants to think that everyone has some sort of defining feature that separates them from everyone. And that kind of goes along with the idea that everyone is unique in some way, but like someone’s uniqueness doesn’t have to be derived from some sort of abnormality in a negative way. A lot of people will put you in like a ‘oh he has a disability’ or something like that or ‘oh he can’t do this.’ But, in reality, I’m just like you know you, and everyone else our age, and all the teenagers and everything, we’re everyone just trying to fit in, right. And so, I don’t want to be known as Luke the kid with one eye or Luke the kid with a glass eye, right. I’m just Luke. I want my actions to define who I am, not my disability or anything like that.”