Hundreds of runners laced up their shoes and had to rely on their other senses beside their sight for a special 5K race in Scottsdale.
From AZ Family, April 2019
The Stride for Sight 5K was held on Sunday morning where blind and sighted runners competed together.
Those who can see could be blindfolded and another person would help guide them.
Adonis Watt was the first blind person to cross the finish line at the race. He is also the first blind person in the family.
“Then he was 4 years old he was prescribed eyeglasses and about eight months after that I was teaching him how to swim and I put him under the water and when he came up he was blind,” said his mother Veronica Watt.
She said it was hard for the family to adjust to Adonis’ blindness.
“My husband and I, we wanted to support him but we didn’t want to embrace his blindness. We wanted him to have more,” said Veronica.
That’s where the Foundation for Blind Children came in.
“The foundation taught me Braille. They taught me how to write and read it and they basically taught me everything I know,” said Adonis.
“The foundation works with educators at your school and they also work with your teachers, P.E. coaches. They help you adapt so that you can do everything that everyone is doing,” said Veronica.
Sunday’s 5K help fund the comprehensive programs at the foundation, which works with Phoenix Children’s Hospital and provides services to blind people.
