失明開啟第二人生路

i Am blind， bUt i never Give Up

I was first introduced to the sport in Frisco， Colorado， at the Frisco 1）Nordic Training Center there， and I got a taste of what 2）biathlon was， which was where you ski a loop and you shoot five targets. I just was， uh， really amazed that a blind person could shoot.

John Farra （Training Center Director）： It’s hard enough to learn how to cross-country ski when you’re…when you’re an adult. But then to also be a， a newly blind guy， someone who’s learning to be really， uh， blind for the first time， and attach that to the goal of learning to be a cross-country skier？ It， it’s almost 3）mindboggling.

And， for a blind individual， you utilize a laser 4）rifle system. And so， as you lift the rifle and sweep through…the rifle through the target， you hear this spectrum of sound. You have sound guiding you to the 5）bull’s eye， to dead center.

I joined the U.S. Army， and I was very interested in serving in the military. On my first 6）deployment I was for Bagdad， Iraq， for a 16-month tour. And， halfway through that tour， I was injured. Our vehicle， which was leading at the time， was struck by a [sic] 7）IED， and I lost my vision， uh， fairly 8）instantaneously. I woke up half a world away， you know， from the battlefield， uh， in a hospital bed. I thought about where I wanted to go in life， and I didn’t want to give up on things. So I had a great support network around me， who 9）rallied and helped me focus on the things I needed to pursue， you know， the things I needed to set as goals， and， and that was to recover and to learn how to be…live life independently.

I’ve been climbing and hiking the past， you know， four or five years all over the world. The last climb I did was in Russia， in the 10）Caucasus. Being blind， not being able to see， everything looks the same—although the experience is different everywhere you go， because of the people， because of the culture， the language， the feeling. But it’s truly exciting. It’s…it’s very challenging and dangerous. I think some people would consider it crazy and dumb， you know， no doubt.

And anything I do now is team effort. I have to have a guide， someone who helps me. So the trust I put in my guide， it involves a lot of communication. Whether it’s climbing or skiing， I have to really， uh， build this relationship with that individual， that…the individual is not worried about leading a blind person over a thousand foot cliff or something.

The idea behind Blind Endeavors is really to spread awareness through adventure and exploration； make people more aware of what someone who， uh， you know， someone like myself， who has a disability or， or someone who’s paralyzed or has a…another problem， what they’re capable of doing if they have the right support network.

在科羅拉多州弗里斯科鎮上的弗里斯科北歐滑雪訓練中心，我第一次接觸到這項運動，親身體會冬季兩項是怎么一回事——參加這項運動時，你要滑一圈，然后向五個目標射擊。我就……盲人都可以射擊，這讓我非常吃驚。

約翰·法拉（訓練中心主任）：當你……作為一個成年人，要學會越野滑雪已經很不容易了。但除此以外，他還是一個剛剛失明的人……有生以來第一次失明，還在學著適應的人，就這樣還想成為越野滑雪運動員？這……簡直令人難以置信。

作為一名盲人，你使用的是一套激光步槍。射擊時，你舉起槍，掃過……你將步槍掃過目標就會聽到一連串聲音。這些聲音能夠引導你找到正中間的靶心。

我曾在美國陸軍服役，參軍一直是我的志向。我第一次參加軍事行動就被派往伊拉克巴格達，為期16個月，在駐扎期過半時不幸受傷。我們的車子當時跑在隊伍最前面，突然遭到一枚路邊炸彈的襲擊，我失去了視力……差不多是當場就瞎了。你知道，我醒過來的時候已經躺在醫院的病床上了，戰場在地球的另一邊。我思考著自己的人生該何去何從，而我并不想放棄生活。身邊有許多人一直在支持我，幫我振作起來，讓我將生活重心放在需要追求的東西上——你知道，我要將這些事情設為目標，而……那就是盡快恢復健康，學會如何……獨立生活。

你瞧，過去四五年來，我在世界各地爬山遠足，最近一次探險是在俄羅斯的高加索山脈。身為一個盲人，什么都看不見，一切事物看上去都沒有差別——不過，你每到一個地方，經歷都會不一樣，因為你會遇到不同的人，接觸到不同的文化，聽到不同的語言，產生不同的感受。