Although sickness robbed their eyes of light, they still did not surrender to fate and became experts in their chosen field, even winning competitions for healthy people.

First blind Olympian athlete

When Marla Runyan was 9 years old, she became ill with Stargardt , a vision loss syndrome that made her blind. However, disability has never stopped Runyan's progress. In 1987, Runyan started studying at the University of San Diego (USA) and participated in many sports events here. Her career began to take off after winning four gold medals at the Summer Paralympics 1992 Summer Games. At the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta (USA), Runyan won an additional gold medal in weightlifting and 1 gold medal in category 5 combined athletics.

Striving constantly, female handicapped athletes have affirmed their talents in running competitions for healers at the Pan American Games competition in 1999 and won the 1,500 meter race. A year later, she reached 8th place in the 1,500 meter run at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney (Australia), marking her as the first blind athlete to be allowed to compete in an Olympics as well as Highest achievement for an American woman at this sporting event.

Blind surfer

Derek Rabelo, not an ordinary surfer. This 20-year-old Brazilian boy was born with congenital glaucoma , but the illness did not prevent him from learning to surf when he was 3 years old.

"With God, everything is possible" , Rabelo declared and faith played an important role in his life: Rabelo's parish helped bring him to Hawaii to fulfill the dream of controlling the waves. evil. Based on only four of his five senses, Rabelo became a hero in the "Beyond Sight" documentary.

Blind artist

John Bramblitt, an American, lost his eyesight in 2001 when he was 30 years old due to complications of epilepsy. Bramblitt said he initially fell into despair and suffered from severe depression, but later found his way through painting. Due to being unable to see colors, Bramblitt developed a technique to help him paint by touching. According to the blind artist, the colors create a different feeling for him: the white is thick and the black is slightly diluted than usual, so when you need gray you mix the two together until the mixture create a sense of fit. Bramblitt's paintings have been sold in more than 20 countries. He also became a special character to appear on many newspapers, TV shows and global radio stations because of his unique talent. Bramblitt's efforts were highly appreciated and he was awarded the US President's award three times for conferences on creative arts.

Blind racing athlete

On January 29, 2011, Mark Anthony Riccobono drove a Ford Escape car and drove alone the Daytona high-speed race of the famous NASCAR commercial car race. This seems nothing unusual, except that Riccobono is blind.

Two technologies have helped the blind man drive: DriveGrip, including two vibrating gloves through joints to inform the driver how much to turn the steering wheel, and SpeedStrip - a cushion slightly from the back to the legs, helping the driver know how fast it needs to accelerate.

Only 10% of normal vision at 5 years old, Riccobono lost the ability to see when growing up. However, now, thanks to a support program of the National Association of the Blind, he is working hard to prove that the blind can adjust to society and drive safely with support. support of new technology.

"There's a lot of work to do to convince people that we (the blind) can actually control a complex transport and contain much more risks. Now, we have to convince society. "This performance is not a risky game. It is realistic. Dynamic research has helped create amazing things , " Riccobono said.

Blind chef

The chefs rely heavily on taste and smell for cooking, especially if they are blind, like the actual winner of the American Master Chef (US MasterChef) 2012 - Christine Ha. In 2004, Christine Ha was diagnosed with myelosuppression (neuromyelitis optica) , then lost her eyesight and almost completely blind in 2007.

Although she has never cooked, she has a large number of people subscribing to her food blog. Christine Ha revealed: "I have to rely heavily on other senses to cook - taste, smell and sense of certain ingredients." She added that not seeing when cooking requires much elaboration.

In 19 competitions in the American Chef King's 3rd season contest, Christine Ha won 7 times in both personal and group challenges, 3 more times in the top 3 chefs with the best performance but also 2 The last time I got into the top contestant. On September 10, 2012, she was officially honored as the champion of the American Chef King, received a $ 250,000 prize with a trophy and a cookbook contract.

Blind photographer

Pete Eckert once studied sculpture and industrial design while still bright. However, when he was about to go to Yale University (USA), he began to suffer from vision loss because of retinitis pigmentosa (retinitis pigmentosa) . Without surrendering to fate, Eckert began to come to photography even after being blind and creating vivid photos with his Mamiyaflex TLR lens. Eckert revealed, he envisioned the images he wanted to create in his brain and used hearing, touch and memory to create photographs.

Blind architect

Christopher Downey, an architect, design and consulting specialist, lost his eyesight in 2008 after a tumor surrounded his optic nerve. To continue his work, Downey went to a blind computer scientist who invented a way to print online maps through a tactile printer. Currently, Mr. Downey is trying to create more rich and useful environments for blind and visually impaired people, as well as creating more satisfying design cycles for blind customers.