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Watson shares experiences to foster acceptance

For Ross Watson, accepting his blindness was extremely empowering. It opened the way for him to understand he didn’t have to ascribe to someone else’s definition of ‘normal’ – he could set that for himself.
Ross Watson climbs in the Bugaboos.
Ross Watson climbs in the Bugaboos.

For Ross Watson, accepting his blindness was extremely empowering.

It opened the way for him to understand he didn’t have to ascribe to someone else’s definition of ‘normal’ – he could set that for himself.

“I went blind when I was 12 and what I really then indirectly started to do was try to prove that I could do things. But the only way I knew how to do it was the way I used to do it or the way everyone else would do it. My goal was to achieve a state of being normal,” said Watson, who is speaking in Canmore at St. Michael’s Anglican Church, as part of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities Saturday (Dec. 3) evening event Stories of Adventure, from 7-10 p.m.

Watson will be joined by Andrew Nugara, author of Scrambling in the Canadian Rockies and his recently-released Snowshoeing in the Canadian Rockies, and Nugara’s brother Mark, who is also blind.

“Being blind isn’t what I am, it is who I am,” Watson said. “I didn’t have to mimic or mirror things people did. I had to accept this is me and do things this way.

“Oddly enough, it was one of those things that was extremely freeing.”

That outlook on life allowed Watson to climb mountains, something he had wanted to do as a youth when he tried to join a climbing club but was denied because he was blind.

Watson climbed Mount McKinley in Alaska in 1990 and Mount Logan in the Yukon in 2000.

Recognizing he could play a role in helping to ensure blind children and youth were not turned away from their goals, as he experienced, Watson partnered with the Canadian Institute for the Blind for the Mount Logan climb.

“I know climbers and started climbing with them. Every climb I do is really for myself, but it has attracted some attention because there aren’t a lot of blind climbers. I believe in awareness, so I thought this is a great way to do something that comes easy to me and I can use it to create awareness,” he said.

Watson also represented Canada in Austria at the 1988 Para Olympics as a member of the Nordic team.

For his presentation Saturday, Watson plans to share his adventures on Logan and McKinley as he talks about teamwork and what it takes to create systems to get the best out of a team.

“In any situation, people basically are the biggest resistance, but by the same token, people are the greatest resource, so you need to create that resource,” he said.

“I believe that everyone in society is willing to be open minded and egalitarian, I just believe they need to be familiarized with how to do that. We find that in all of our communities. People try to make good communities, but they need champions.”

And by sharing his story on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, he can help create, understand and champion.


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