Marla Runyan: A Visually Impaired Athlete Marla Runyan is a world-class track and field athlete, who competed for the United States Olympic Team in 2000. She also happens to have Stargardt’s disease, which makes her legally blind. Marla once said, “If I break a national record, maybe they will stop writing about my eyes” (LaFontaine 228).
There are 285 million people that are visually impaired in the world (WHO). Of those people, 248 million have low vision and thirty-nine million are blind (WHO). The causes of blindness fall into two categories: natural causes and environmental causes. Some natural causes of blindness are cataracts, (Landau 20), glaucoma (16), and macular degeneration (22). Environmental causes of blindness can occur from exposure to chemicals (30) and sharp objects puncturing the eye (29). Stargardt’s disease is categorized as a natural cause of blindness. It affects approximately one in ten thousand people in the United …show more content…
“She is not going to be able to do this, she’s not going to be able to do that. He was making predictions on how I would function: I would become a C student. I don’t want to blame him, but he was really speaking beyond his scope” (VLR). Marla is talking about how her doctor was predicting the future for her. By telling Marla that she couldn’t do certain things that she could before, he was motivating her to do better. “ I remember becoming very angry. It kind of became the fire to motivate me” (VLR). She wanted to prove him wrong. Marla’s parents helped Marla overcome her disease by letting her try new things. “They were leaving the door open to just kind of go for it. They knew I might not always succeed, but they let me do that” (VLR). In some ways, adversity can serve as motivation and inspiration. Marla continues to serve as an inspiration to others by making appearances as a motivational and keynote speaker
There are 285 million people that are visually impaired in the world (WHO). Of those people, 248 million have low vision and thirty-nine million are blind (WHO). The causes of blindness fall into two categories: natural causes and environmental causes. Some natural causes of blindness are cataracts, (Landau 20), glaucoma (16), and macular degeneration (22). Environmental causes of blindness can occur from exposure to chemicals (30) and sharp objects puncturing the eye (29). Stargardt’s disease is categorized as a natural cause of blindness. It affects approximately one in ten thousand people in the United …show more content…
“She is not going to be able to do this, she’s not going to be able to do that. He was making predictions on how I would function: I would become a C student. I don’t want to blame him, but he was really speaking beyond his scope” (VLR). Marla is talking about how her doctor was predicting the future for her. By telling Marla that she couldn’t do certain things that she could before, he was motivating her to do better. “ I remember becoming very angry. It kind of became the fire to motivate me” (VLR). She wanted to prove him wrong. Marla’s parents helped Marla overcome her disease by letting her try new things. “They were leaving the door open to just kind of go for it. They knew I might not always succeed, but they let me do that” (VLR). In some ways, adversity can serve as motivation and inspiration. Marla continues to serve as an inspiration to others by making appearances as a motivational and keynote speaker