Meet professional skateboarder Justin Bishop!
Justin was eight when he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare degenerative eye disease that came with a warning that he would go blind in middle age.
Undeterred, he picked up skateboarding at the age of 10. But by the time he turned 25, he could only see shadows and blurs. After a four-year break from skating to remaster all of his essential life skills, he was finally ready to get back on the board.
Skateboarding while blind requires some creativity. Typically, Justin uses his cane to feel the environment around him—the curve of a bowl he’s dropped into, the end of a rail he’s grinding.
In 2019, he partnered with Zappos and Not Impossible Labs to develop a sound-based technology that uses speakers to create audio markers visually impaired skaters can use to navigate a skatepark.
Now in his mid-thirties, Justin is a professional skater with sponsors, has starred in commercials and documentaries, and advocates for the inclusion of visually impaired skateboarding in the Paralympics.
Check out our behind the scenes video of Justin Bishop working out the trick that won him Adaptive Trick of the Year for Street League Skateboarding.
