June is Deafblind Awareness Month and we interviewed Blind Hockey player Ryan Kucy from Sherwood Park Alberta about his deafblindness.
I was born with Bilateral Optic Atrophy which is a condition that impacts the optic nerve. I see things in front of me quite well, but I don’t have a lot of peripheral vision. I can read text that’s only slightly larger than average and can play video games as long as I’m close enough to the screen.
Honestly, I don’t think about my vision a lot. If you ask me though, I’d rather have my hearing back.
My hearing loss was acquired and got progressively worse over 10 years.. There are a few potential root causes of my hearing loss.
My hearing has thankfully stabilized greatly since I reached adulthood. I have one cochlear implant in my right ear now and likely will get a second in my left at some point. I have approximately between 5 and 10 percent hearing left in that ear which has fluctuated a little bit back and forth.
I have been playing Blind Hockey since I was 15 and started attending Canadian Blind hockey tournaments when I was 23. I’ve skated since I was 3 or 4 years old and I played two years of sighted hockey when I was young. I’ve also played on a few sighted shinny teams. I believe I have now played in 10 national tournaments, over 4 regional tournaments and 1 tournament in Chicago!
Everything from my job and the small wrestling career I have can be credited to the confidence that playing Blind Hockey has given me and that confidence largely comes because the people in the community believe in each other and want to help each other.
I have been a huge fan of pro wrestling ever since I was 10 or 11. I would sneak onto the TV just to watch them wrestle. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson got me hooked! As a person with vision and hearing loss, I didn’t get to have big dreams like a lot of young boys and girls. I couldn’t dream of being in the NHL, playing baseball, or becoming a police officer or pilot. I had the personality type that wanted to do something exciting and make a difference, but unfortunately, I was missing the main senses. I think I latched onto wrestling because I felt it was something I could do.
A couple of years ago, I started researching athletes with cochlear implants, and I found them playing some really rough sports. I realized that my own doubts and fears, not the CI, were holding me back. I talked to my audiologist, who gave me the green light to pursue wrestling. At the time, I was told that the CI is not supposed to put up barriers; it’s supposed to take them down, but I had let mine become a barrier.
Wrestling has helped me gain confidence and self-belief, and I’m extremely grateful that things have worked out so well. When my partner and I come out, I get chills every time the crowd starts chanting for us.
Before joining the CBH community, I was very isolated. They showed me that it was possible to be successful as a blind or partially sighted person. For the first time, I was exposed to people who had found ways to overcome their challenges to play a sport they loved. You are going to be around people who have similar experiences to you, who understand the challenges you have faced and who will empathize with you but also give you a bit of a kick when you need it. You’ll learn to communicate and function as a teammate, an important skill in a five-man unit on the ice working towards a single goal. That in itself is a huge life skill and very important.
Whether you’ve played before, have never played, lost your sight and stopped playing, or are rediscovering the game, you’ll feel welcome. You’ll feel like you’ve accomplished something, and you’ll feel like you’re no longer alone.
Believe in yourself and live your life on your terms, especially when it comes to meeting people. Advocate for yourself when meeting others. Communicate in your own way and make sure they use it. I do a lot of text communication, but blind hockey and wrestling taught me that people learn to respect those who communicate in unique ways. Ultimately, you know the best way to communicate, so make it clear. Others will do their best to help and pick up on your challenges.
