(This story has been updated to include new information.)
A blind veteran of Stark County reaches the slopes next week.
John Albrecht, 78, a veteran of the American army in the North Canton region, will participate in the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, in which hundreds of veterans will go to Aspen-Snowmass, Colorado.
The event allows veterans with disabilities to access the advice and instructions to carry out popular winter sports activities, including skiing, sled hockey and snowmobile. The clinic scheduled for Monday to April 5.
Albrecht said he has participated in winter sports clinics since 2023.
“I was at the Blind Rehab Center in Cleveland … and (someone) mentioned the winter sports clinic and the summer golf clinic … so I went to the two,” he said.
Albrecht: “ it’s really nice ”
Albrecht said he is impatiently awaiting the descent ski offered.
“I wear a vest that says” blind skier “and I have two guides,” he said. “They really help and I improve myself.”
Albrecht began to lose his vision in 2017, starting with his right eye, then progressing towards his left eye next year, making him legally blind. However, he maintained his peripheral vision, which helps him with the clinic.
“Because I am lucky to have a 100%peripheral vision, one of the ski guides in front of me and one behind me, and they tell me what I do badly,” he said.
When he attended his first winter sports clinic in 2023, he said he was happy to be able to overcome this barrier with the help of instructors.
“When I went there, I was really not prepared … I had good instructors, and they made me stand up more and telling me where to look,” he said. “Things have really progressed, and I appreciate it much more now.”
Albrecht said he had also done snowmobile through the clinic, so he is delighted to try again.
“This year, for the first time, my wife will go out with me, and therefore I wanted her to see snowmobile and the continental fracture and everything on the snowpland,” he said. “It’s really nice.”
Therapist: “I can’t wait to see how it improved”
Morgan Johnson, one of Albrecht’s blind rehabilitation specialists, will also go to Colorado, and said her peripheral vision had made her very skilful in clinics.
“It makes him really nice when he skies because he is able to see the bright or yellow orange vest that the guide carries,” she said. “He also made a lot of effort to learn to ski safely, and he is very, very great for ensuring his safety and navigating the obstacles he has.”
Johnson said it was the second time she has witnessed the clinic with Albrecht, and she is delighted to see how her ski has progressed.
“I can’t wait to see how much he has improved since the last time we went there,” she said. “Each time I interact with him, we always offer new ways to make the situation that he meets more accessible, and in my opinion, there is no better place to do so than the real world, and especially in a complex situation like travel.”
Hundreds of participants were waiting for this year’s clinic
This year’s winter sports clinic awaits around 400 disabled veterans, alongside around 600 volunteers.
“This is one of my favorite events, and I tell everyone that there is no experience to go out with the winter sports clinic, because it is a clinic to learn,” said the leisure therapist Aubrey Lash. “It is really a humiliating experience to see hundreds of veterans with disabilities succeed and discover” miracles on the mountainside “.
The clinic started over 30 years ago, the first taking place in 1987, welcoming 90 disabled veterans.
“For nearly four decades, the event has helped veterans who live with physical handicaps and injuries to overcome obstacles and question their perceived limits,” said veterans, northeast veterans of Ohio Healthcare Systems in a prepared statement. “World class instructors and recreational therapists help veterans to experience the full potential of adaptive sports as a tool for improving health and well-being.”