but he doesn't see. echolocation is a fairly well known concept in the visually impaired world but it can only be totally effective if it is used in a well-known environment.
I rollerscated in the street when I was a child. I rode a bike in the street where we lived, and by means of echolocation (i.e. being able to hear objects as you pass them) I managed to avoid the one lamp post that I passed by centimetres. And when my mum asked how I hadn't hit it the only way I could explain it was that it "went dark past my ears" (I do have light perception but that is all.)
I can navigate round the healthclub without a dog and without a cane, and I do it by being able to hear where I'm going.
But the problems arise when you enter into unfamilliar teratory, or when something in your environment changes. If this lad walked to school one day and there was a hole in the road, he wouldn't know it was there until he fell in it. Echolocation will only realistically work for objects which are in hearing distance i.e. that are close enough to make a difference to the environment you're in, so you can sense that they're there.
And he has a serious attitude problem. Nothing wrong with wanting to be independent, I am one of the most independent people I know, but there do come times when you have to ask for or accept help from other.. In the shops for instance. And there are times when you have to accept that there are things which are simply beyond the relms of your capabilities, like getting a drivers licence.
I believe I can do anything. I live completely independently, the only adaptive technology in my house are my computer, my mobile phone, and the set of talking scales in my kitchen. other than that I do everything a sighted person does. But there are things that I can't do, I can't become a pilot, or a surgeon, or a taxi driver, but equally there are things I can do easier than someone who has sight - I could change nappies in the dark, I could read after my mum said it was lights out, and when the electric goes off, I'm the best person to send looking for candles
and that lad has a serious attitude problem.