ZoomText at the Slopes
Mark Davis, an avid skier from a young age, lost his sight due to a rare symptom of Multiple Sclerosis and was devastated at the prospect of no longer being able to do what he loved the most - ski. Soon after losing his sight, and with the assistance of the Colorado Ski School for the Blind, he returned to the mountain and instantly overcame his sense of deep depression. The strength and confidence he gained from this life changing experience compelled him to offer this same opportunity to others.
In 2001, along with a team of dedicated volunteers, Mark formed Foresight Ski Guides, a Colorado based company that provides trained ski guides to assist individuals who are visually impaired or blind on the ski slopes. Foresight provides safe and affordable skiing and ski guides to visually impaired skiers at Vail and Beaver Creek Colorado. We featured Mark in a ZoomNews profile a few years ago and we thought it was time to check in and see what’s new!
We were pleased to hear that even in this recession, the program continues to grow. When the company first started up, they had to turn away 30-40% of the skiers because they just could not handle the volume. The program now boasts 25 trained guides who are put through a rigorous training program. There are five more guides who will graduate from the program in just a few weeks! Foresight is the biggest program of its kind in the country and the only program in North America run by someone who’s visually-impaired. This year, they will have around 60 blind skiers pass through the slopes.
Foresight Ski Guides have been expanding their role with the Colorado School for the Blind who they have been working with for three years now. With this partnership, they provide everything the students need for 3 fabulous days at Vail - including guides, equipment rental, lodging, and meals. There are 45 kids attending this school and Mark hopes to work with 25-30 of them this season. Many of these kids are in foster care and one child this year had never even seen snow being from the Philippines! In addition to the three ski trips this year for the school, Foresight put in a physical fitness program right there at the school that conditions the kids for the slopes. It’s now part of their daily routine in gym class, so the kids that have skied with the program this year have been in better shape, so they enjoyed skiing more and no injuries were had!
“This is the best group of kids we’ve ever had come through the program,” says Mark. “It’s an amazing opportunity for the guides as well as the kids - it’s a life changing event for everyone involved.” And ZoomText is right there in the thick of things! Mark uses it every day to run the program seamlessly, and it’s on display in the computers at the Vail lodge where the program is headquartered. We’re teaming up with Mark and Foresight to provide trials right there on site so any skier who participates will have a chance to try out ZoomText at their home, workplace or school. As Mark said, “ZoomText is a lifesaver for me.”
Foresight delivers more than just making an expensive sport affordable. “It’s about challenge recreation - we take people who are visually impaired and put them in a challenging situation and do something scary safely,” says Mark. “We push people outside the boundaries that have been set for them. Most of the people that come through for the first time never envisioned that they can ski, never mind succeed at it. They walk away from here having learned lessons that they can then apply to other parts of their lives.” Hundreds of skiers that have come through the program and Mark couldn’t think of a one whose life hadn’t been changed in some way from their participation.
When Mark’s not busy with running Foresight Ski guides, he’s off hiking, running, traveling, or staying active in politics - in fact, he attended the Democratic National Convention this past August in Denver and he’s very excited about all the new changes happening in Washington. If you’d like to learn more about Foresight, visit them online at http://www.foresightskiguides.org or send an email to Mark at . All of us at Ai Squared wish Mark and Foresight the best of luck for many, many winters to come!
