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Lola Walters, 13-year-old blind gymnast, wows crowds
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Good News
Lola Walters is legally blind. The 13-year-old California girl—adopted from Bolivia when she was two—suffers from Nystagmus, a condition that causes her to see double and leaves her with no depth perception.
Still, she's wowing crowds and making headlines as a competitive gymnast.
Watch her story here.
"Most people I compete with don't know I am any different to them," Walters told the Daily Mail. "As far as I'm concerned it can stay that way. If they don't know, they don't need to score me differently."
In competitions, judges aren't made aware of her condition.
Walters relies on touch, using her hands and feet to ground her when her vision fails. She's comfortable with the bar and knows how far to jump without seeing the destination.
"The floor work isn't any different for me," she told the Daily Mail. "But with the beam—it's four inches wide—so that's hard enough for anyone to walk on, let alone jump and flip on, so when I start to see two beams instead of just the one that's really there I have to steady myself on my feet and really focus."
Walters falls more frequently than other gymnasts in training and risks more serious injuries, especially when learning something new.
"Her vision is very complicated," the gymnast's mother, Beth, said.
"I don't like to use the term 'legally blind' although she is considered legally blind, as I think that is deceptive. She can see. It's just that what is in front of her constantly moves and she can not judge distances or focus."
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