Some of us hear “you can’t do that” as a call to action. Every achievement is made a little sweeter by the memories of those who said it could never happen. I spent years developing technology that would let me target shoot simply because I wanted to participate in the sport. When my first shot hit, however, I must admit that “I told you so” flashed through my mind.
Naysayers Beware
I have met countless people over the past 30 years. Everyone reacts to my blindness differently. They say so much about themselves in their questions. Is it scary living by yourself?” “Do people cheat and scam you often?” The simple fact is that blindness scares most people. Fair enough, really. At least in modern western culture, eyesight holds a position above all other human senses. As proof, a growing number of TV commercials never say what they are advertising out loud.
I can only imagine the emotions felt by parents when they learn their child is or will be going blind. Fear probably ranks high on the list. Thankfully many organizations exist to support these parents and their children on this new journey. Unfortunately in my view, many events for these parents ask them to experience blindness by wearing a blindfold and perhaps having lunch or something similar. Undoubtedly many find this difficult or even terrifying. “How do I cut my food?” “Look at the mess I made.” In my experience this creates low expectations for the children. Nobody can adapt to losing vision in an afternoon. Heck, I am still working on eating without making a mess!
Low expectations are not empathy. Of course each situation is unique, but I have met far too many blind youth who’s parents and teachers assume they will always be taken care of at home. My parents were regularly informed by teachers that I did not need to learn anatomy or math like the other students and that my standardized test scores would hurt the school. Not to brag, but I have benefitted every school that I have attended on that account. Miraculously my parents either knew better than that or really wanted me out of the house at 18. They had to advocate for me constantly. Reading materials needed to be in Braille, diagrams had to be made tactile, and teachers were to read everything they had on slides or whiteboards in class.
Shock and Awe
If the world doubted you could perform the most basic aspects of living, what would you do? Would you accept your fate and let the self-fulfilling prophecy come true? Or, would you defiantly reject the entire premise? I will say, the latter option is way more fun. Not easier, but more fun. Surrounded by doubt, you really do not have to reach for the stars. During an interview for the Stanford University student newspaper, she said something like “you are a trail blazer.” I immediately noted that most would call me a trail blazer for making a sandwich. My role models and heroes are those that strive for genuine excellence. They reach the highest peaks and then keep climbing. There ambition, skill, and persistence should inspire everyone. That is a true “trail blazer.”
Target shooting may not be the most important thing a person could do. I think it is fair to say that sighted people spend plenty of time doing less than necessary activities. Sighted shooters have told me many times that precision marksmanship is difficult for anyone. Perfect, I would rather work hard to accomplish something that actually should be difficult. As described in my first post, it took years to get 6 shots on paper. Celebration quickly became planning my next steps. After all, I had designed the system for way more than 80 yards.
Phase 2 meant finding a public range that would let me shoot. While visiting family in Florida, I walked into 3 ranges with a folder of pictures. There is no script for asking if a blind person can shoot. The first and second ranges went exactly as I predicted they might. “We need to check with insurance and legal on that.” I have never heard from anyone since. I cannot hold it against them, but I do hope that one day both will reconsider.
I struck gold at the Bay County Shooting Range. As it turns out, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) runs 11 shooting ranges throughout the state. A 20 minute conversation went from skeptical to pure laughter. Two days later the range manager Donovan Motley had confirmation that I was officially approved to shoot. Donovan and his staff have been incredibly supportive as I continue to improve the SniperSound system.
That Qualifies
Every engineer knows that the first demo will likely fail. My golf coach said that “watch this” was the worst thing to say on the course. My first outing to the Bay County range did not work. In hindsight the bright sun that day created very different lighting compared to the shadowed area on the family property. Since that day, I have developed the software to handle lighting variation far better.
Day 2 was a bit cloudy. The Range Safety Officer (RSO) Missy and my dad went down range to hang the target at 100 yards while I connected cables and turned things on. After far too much time, I finally began getting audio indicating that the system was detecting the target. My shots landed with the same accuracy as before. Boy did it feel good. This proved more than just shooting an extra 20 yards. SniperSound had adapted to a new environment; someone outside my family was convinced it worked; and, the door was now open to taking things much further.
The Bay County Shooting Range has facilities for everything one could want. Handgun, shotgun, archery, and rifle ranges with plenty of firing positions. Since we first met, Donovan and I have discussed the path to long range shooting with SniperSound. Bay County’s 300 yard rifle range was first on the list. Anyone who wishes to shoot on the 300 yard range must first qualify by hitting a standard 8.5×11″ piece of paper at 100 yards. This, of course, helps ensure safety. I completed my first actual day of shooting by shooting my 5 qualifying rounds. Missy said she needed 5 distinct holes in the paper. While not perfectly separate holes, it qualified just fine.
Told You So…
Thankfully not everyone is a naysayer. I am so grateful to my parents, friends, and everyone at the Bay County range. Nobody achieves success alone. Somewhere along the way a door was held open. For every teacher that doubted me, another pushed me forward. Thank goodness because math has been critical to my career and SniperSound. To anyone blazing a new trail, stay strong, dream big, and, above all, remain humble.