I've been swimming competitively for a couple of years now and with hopes of not seeming too concetied I am pretty good. I place in all my events from the 100 Meter Butterfly to the 200 I.M. and so on and so forth. This summer I was invited to an international competition for blind athletes and I went. I did rather well. I came home with three 2nd Place medals and the US team won their relays as well. While I was at these international games I was really encouraged to pursue the Paralympics and when I got home I looked into it. After a little bit of research I uncovered some time standards and suprisingly found myself surpassing them in my given stroke. I was overwhelmed with excitement and was starting to plan out my trip to the Paralympic Trials. Shortly after I started looking at what I needed to do to qualify and to basically register with the Paralympic and Olympic Associations. I emailed off for my paralympic qualification form. Something I supose, I should have made more clear early on in this blog was that I am legally blind and I have albinism. After getting an email back I skimmed over the qualification form and low and behold but I am not BLIND enough. I will re-iterate that, NOT BLIND ENOUGH to compete in the paralympics. However, I'm blind enough not to drive, not to become a pilot, or not to serve in the armed forces. Needless to say, my dreams and hopes were crushed and I was infuriated.
My point in telling this story was that I think there is something seriously wrong and unjust about the entire situation. by defintion of the genetic disorder I have I am legally blind but I am not blind enough to compete in something that is all about giving fairness to the disabled. I ask you is seperate but equal really fair? Is this equailty at work? I understand why I won't be able to drive and I respect it but does that make my life any more fair? Not only do I have to depend on others and public transit for the rest of my life to do simple things like get to work and school but I can't even live out a dream or passion because by their standards, I am not blind enough. Maybe these are the rantings of crushed teenage dreams but I still smell unjustness all over it.
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That seems to defeat the purpose of the paralympics, one would think. Sorry, man. Can you compete in any other big competitions?
Completely. I'm not really sure. Some really supportive people around me told me to pursue the olympics but comparing the times....
But, thank you for the comment and the sympathy.
- Je suis moi.