Friday, December 10, 2010

A Life of Shadow and Light

This semester, I shot a photo story on Lori Pierce a visually impaired student at the University of Texas at Austin. You can check it out here and here.


Lori Pierce is a fighter. Born premature she lost her sight in the first few days of her life, when her retinas were damaged from receiving too much oxygen in the attempt to save her life. Her condition is called retinopathy of prematurity. While this event left her visually impaired it would not become the defining facet of her future.


Lori has some vision. She can see light and shadows and some color. On a good day she can see the shapes of people walk towards her. The more high contrast the light outside the more she can see. At night, when it is dark outside she cannot see at all.


The sport of Judo caught her attention at the age of 15 after she attended a sports camp for blind and visual impaired children. She had the feeling that judo could take her places. She had no idea that it would take her around the world. Lori has competed in blind judo tournaments in France, Brazil, Canada, and Italy. She won a silver medal in the Paralympics in the 2004 games in Athens, Greece. She was the first woman representing the United States to medal in judo.


Lori is a senior psychology major at the University of Texas at Austin. The university environment can be challenging to average student, who must juggle class work, a social life and other activities that place huge demands on their time. Lori faces extra challenges that the typical university student does not have to consider. Transportation, translating books into an accessible form, and dealing with basic chores like grocery shopping all require more time.

7 comments:

Handicraft Shopping India said...

whoah this weblog is fantastic i really like studying your articles.

- handicrafts of india | handicrafts from india | handicraft india

Behind the fan said...

=) this article on Lori is marvelous :) I love your shots and the fact that everything has a relation to light. Keep blogging! x

usha.digitalinfo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
usha.digitalinfo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
usha.digitalinfo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
usha.digitalinfo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

This website is very nice. It is a very popular website. It is a good website. It is a wonderful website. It is a nice looking website. It is a very rich website. The website is very needful to people. It is a special website to visit. It is the very suitable website to all.
Artificial Disc Replacement Resource CenterIt is the website which helpful to all. It is one of the important website to all. It is one of the learning website to all. It is the website that gives you so important knowledge. It is a comfortable website to all of the people.