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This Incredible Instagram Account Shows What Life Is Like as a Visually Impaired Paralympic Skier

Release time:  2018-02-24 Release source:  Katie Richards author:  ADNose browse:  320


You may have imagined what it would be like to be an Olympic athlete, maybe you’re into skiing so you’ve imagined skiing down steep mountains with sharp curves at incredibly fast speeds. But have you ever thought about what it would be like to ski down those same slopes, at over 60 miles per hour, when you only have 3 percent of your vision?


Menna Fitzpatrick, an 18-year-old visually impaired Para alpine skier, experiences that every time she sets off down a mountain. Now, thanks to an incredibly clever Instagram account (@SeeLikeMenna) from Toyota, fans can really start to imagine what it’s like to train for the Paralympics.


Toyota worked with Saatchi & Saatchi, Dentsu and Archer’s Mark on this most recent project, using a 3 percent vision filter to give viewers a sense of what Fitzpatrick’s life is like.


The Instagram account features several images but the videos are truly stunning. In those short clips viewers truly get a sense of what it’s like to be without sight. Fitzpatrick’s either speeding down snowy courses with little to no vision or running late at night or early in the morning. In one post, you can hear Fitzpatrick’s sight guide, Jennifer Kehoe, shouting out instructions and helping Fitzpatrick along the way. It’s a thrilling, almost heart-stopping experience for the viewer and a unique window into the life of Paralympic athletes.


The social media component is part of Toyota’s larger “Start Your Impossible” campaign that has been running for a few weeks, with ads during the Super Bowl and the Winter Games. For the Olympics alone, Toyota created seven new ads for the campaign, many of which have similar messages of strength and perseverance from athletes with all different backstories.


Toyota also created a 360, immersive video experience. There’s also a 60-second film that introduces viewers to Fitzpatrick, sans 3 percent vision filter.