Hilda Dunford began to cry.
While holding her phone in one hand and a ski pole in the other, she started capturing a video of her 11-year-old son, Ashton, going down the slope by himself for the very first time.
Most parents tend to get a little emotional when watching their child master a new skill after a lot of hard work. But for Hilda, this moment was different: she had just witnessed her son do the impossible.
“I never thought I’d see this day come,” Hilda wrote on instagram.
“Blindness will never stop him from shredding these mountains.”
A rare diagnosis
Ashton was born with septo-optic dysplasia, a rare condition that happens with 1 in 10,000 births. Typically, this means that the optic nerve is underdeveloped and a child may be blind or have low-vision in one or both eyes.
At first everything seemed normal. But after a couple months, Hilda noticed that things were difficult for her son.
“He had a really hard time just with everything,” she says.
“Tummy time was awful for him. It was like face plant time.”
The doctor ordered an MRI scan and they finally received the diagnosis when Ashton was around 4 months old.
“It was like my whole world fell apart because I had never even met anyone that was blind before…I was like how am I going to [learn] braille and…how is he going to [use a cane]? And how am I gonna teach him to read? How is he going to go to school?”
“It was just so, so overwhelming.”
Being the parent of a child with a disability just teaches you so much about the human spirit .
Hilda Dunford
“So that first year I did a lot of grieving and understanding, and then once I got past that I was able to learn…I just learned a whole other part of being a mom. Being the parent of a child with a disability just teaches you so much about the human spirit and just how determined and how strong they are.”
Ashton may have been delayed on reaching his baby milestones, but even then, Hilda says, he was determined.
“He was closer to 5 months when he was able to hold his head up and then sitting up took him a lot longer. He was almost one when he was crawling.”
When he began running at age 2, she says, there was no stopping him. He’s been going non-stop since then: bike riding, skiing, skateboarding. His goal this summer is to learn how to surf.
“He’s just blown my mind from the things that he’s able to do.”
Playing it safe comes with risks
Ashton’s athletic skills may be a statistical anomaly — blind and low vision children are generally less active and less fit than their sighted peers.
According to the National Federation of the Blind, one reason for this gap is because blind and low-vision kids are more frequently told that an activity is too dangerous or difficult for them — don’t play with that ball or run down that hill. These warnings may be well intentioned, but if a child hears them frequently their self-esteem and risk-taking abilities will inevitably take a hit.
“We always gave him the chance before we limited what he could do,
Hilda Dunford
Hilda and her husband have consciously cultivated a different environment for Ashton and their other two sighted children.
“We always gave him the chance before we limited what he could do,” says Hilda.
“I think that’s why Ashton seeks more of those opportunities because growing up we’ve always tried to find a way for him to have the chance to do something, whether it was riding a bike or going on a trip or going to the beach, just trying to find ways where he could enjoy it.”
Changing the game
There’s not a lot of blind athletes for Ashton to model, but he has a kindred spirit in Anthony Ferraro, a TikTok star that’s recently gone viral for his daring endeavors as a blind athlete. He’s a former wrestler, member of the U.S. paralympics Judo team, professional skateboarder, surfer, and aspiring member of the U.S. paralympics snowboarding team…just to name a few of his interests.
Many people, including Ashton, have found Ferraro’s videos to be extremely encouraging.
“It was almost a slap in the face,” Ferraro told Forbes how it felt when he began getting messages from people with disabilities thanking him for showing the world what was possible. He said that was a wake up call because he spent a lot of his childhood trying to downplay his blindness in front of sighted kids.
“[It was] like, you’re really selfish if you’re not going to accept who you are and use it to try to help people,” Ferraro remarked on the moment he decided to use his platform to help others struggling with blindness or low vision.
That’s a sentiment that Ashton and Hilda share deeply.
Childhood blindness is relatively rare — the prevalence of blindness in children in developing countries is only .03 percent.
“Ashton is the only blind child in his elementary school,” says Hilda, “I think there’s like three or four other kids in our district that are blind, that’s how rare it is. It’s not something where you get to meet a lot of [parents of blind children]”.
So, Hilda and Ashton started sharing his story on her instagram account with the goal of connecting with families and encouraging inclusivity in everything, even action sports.
“I wanted other parents to not feel like they’re the only ones who are going through it.”
The online community has become a space where families can share advice and encouragement with one another. Hilda frequently posts videos of Ashton doing everything from the more mundane — writing Valentine’s day cards to his classmates in braille — to shredding mountains, climbing rocks, and riding bikes.
“I think that’s the best advice: starting small but dreaming big for your child.
Hilda Dunford
She credits a lot of her family’s culture of inclusivity and adventure on the incredible resources available where they live in Utah county. But she recognizes that not every parent to a blind child is that lucky — many locales don’t have robust resources to help parents especially through those critical first few years. Her online community is a way to pay it forward and share tips she’s learned along the way.
“I was so blessed to have the like early intervention and the school of the blind here is amazing. They would come into your home for the first three years and teach you.”
Hilda says she not only had to learn braille but also how to create a safe and accessible environment for Ashton, especially when he was a toddler, that would support him in reaching those milestones. Small things like labeling everything in the house with braille, having open and accessible toy bins, and keeping furniture in the exact same location can really go a long way in making a blind child feel confident in their surroundings. Starting with these small steps can lead to more confidence as the child grows.
“I think that’s the best advice: starting small but dreaming big for your child because… I don’t think there is a limit when they want to do things…If your child really wants to try something, you can find a way for them to do it.”