Show notes
Shawn Sturges
The summer of 2004 is when Shawn Sturges entered into his new life. He had just
graduated from high school, turned eighteen, and was experiencing a puzzling sudden
decline in vision. Before summer’s end his world turned black –literally black. That was
all he saw! He no longer had any perception of light left. Sturges was now classified as
“VI” or a visually impaired individual which was caused by Leber’s Hereditary Optic
Neuropathy. Prior to his vision loss he was involved in athletics which included
baseball, football, and martial arts. However, many of these activities were taken away
as soon as he begun to experience his vision loss.
The loss of his vision quickly resulted in a battle with depression which often separated
him from the rest of the world. After about a year of isolation Sturges felt that the time
to move on with life was important for recovery. Shortly after that decision he began
to seek out healthy ways to cope with the depression, so he found himself once again
involved with martial arts. He also entered college where he would later obtain
multiple Bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration. What he learned was the
discipline, perseverance, determination, and belief in one’s own abilities that are
needed to find success which he later took to rock climbing.
In the fall of 2015 he was introduced to rock climbing by a friend, and from that first
time on the wall he was hooked. Sturges joined the local Adaptive Climbing Group (ACG)
to learn climbing techniques not only on the wall, but also in safety which means how to
use harnesses and knots to provide a measure of safety while climbing. Sturges states,
“The visual limitation that I face is not a hindrance that most believe it to be while
climbing. As an adaptive climber and individual in our world I am in a constant state of
problem solving. What I have learned as a blind individual is that my world is very
tactual, so rock climbing lends itself quite well to my world. I use visualization and flat
hand scanning a tremendous amount while I climb which helps me to determine my path
of upward ascent. My daily navigation skills that I use to travel around Chicago has also
helped me to find success in climbing since I am always aware of my body position and
surroundings which is also very important when on the wall. What I have determined is
that climbing to me is not that different from my everyday life and that realization will
be what helps me to achieve all my climbing goals.”
After a year of climbing at Brooklyn Boulders in Chicago he joined the ACG competition
team to compete at the USA Climbing Adaptive Nationals which was held in Georgia in
the summer of 2016. The many hours spent in the gym allowed him to take home
second place in the visually impaired category. This accomplishment earned him a spot
on team USA to compete in the 2016 IFSC World Para Climbing Championships which
were held in Paris, France. Although he did not place at World’s he learned a
tremendous amount about himself and climbing that he has taken back to Chicago with
him to not only train harder, but smarter for future competitions.
The summer of 2004 is when Shawn Sturges entered into his new life. He had just
graduated from high school, turned eighteen, and was experiencing a puzzling sudden
decline in vision. Before summer’s end his world turned black –literally black. That was
all he saw! He no longer had any perception of light left. Sturges was now classified as
“VI” or a visually impaired individual which was caused by Leber’s Hereditary Optic
Neuropathy. Prior to his vision loss he was involved in athletics which included
baseball, football, and martial arts. However, many of these activities were taken away
as soon as he begun to experience his vision loss.
The loss of his vision quickly resulted in a battle with depression which often separated
him from the rest of the world. After about a year of isolation Sturges felt that the time
to move on with life was important for recovery. Shortly after that decision he began
to seek out healthy ways to cope with the depression, so he found himself once again
involved with martial arts. He also entered college where he would later obtain
multiple Bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration. What he learned was the
discipline, perseverance, determination, and belief in one’s own abilities that are
needed to find success which he later took to rock climbing.
In the fall of 2015 he was introduced to rock climbing by a friend, and from that first
time on the wall he was hooked. Sturges joined the local Adaptive Climbing Group (ACG)
to learn climbing techniques not only on the wall, but also in safety which means how to
use harnesses and knots to provide a measure of safety while climbing. Sturges states,
“The visual limitation that I face is not a hindrance that most believe it to be while
climbing. As an adaptive climber and individual in our world I am in a constant state of
problem solving. What I have learned as a blind individual is that my world is very
tactual, so rock climbing lends itself quite well to my world. I use visualization and flat
hand scanning a tremendous amount while I climb which helps me to determine my path
of upward ascent. My daily navigation skills that I use to travel around Chicago has also
helped me to find success in climbing since I am always aware of my body position and
surroundings which is also very important when on the wall. What I have determined is
that climbing to me is not that different from my everyday life and that realization will
be what helps me to achieve all my climbing goals.”
After a year of climbing at Brooklyn Boulders in Chicago he joined the ACG competition
team to compete at the USA Climbing Adaptive Nationals which was held in Georgia in
the summer of 2016. The many hours spent in the gym allowed him to take home
second place in the visually impaired category. This accomplishment earned him a spot
on team USA to compete in the 2016 IFSC World Para Climbing Championships which
were held in Paris, France. Although he did not place at World’s he learned a
tremendous amount about himself and climbing that he has taken back to Chicago with
him to not only train harder, but smarter for future competitions.
