Unseen paths: Young and visually impaired in Costa Rica
2 months ago

Unseen paths: Young and visually impaired in Costa Rica

Al Jazeera  

About 18 percent of the population of Costa Rica, a country of about five million, lives with a disability. As a 23-year-old living with an eye disease called keratoconus, which causes loss of vision, I’m interested in how young people with visual disabilities navigate their everyday lives as they follow their dreams and work towards their goals. I decided to focus on these “caminos invisibles” or “unseen paths” in my photo essay for the Safe Photography Project, run by the international youth agency Restless Development, and part of a global campaign to end violence against children. In my photo essay, I wanted to illustrate the challenges and courage of two subjects with visual impairments, Camila and Luis, both 13, as they adapt to the world to be as independent as possible. Luis Diego Espinoza Cedeño was born with limited vision due to ocular albinism, nystagmus and strabismus although his parents were initially told he was blind at birth.

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