Toyota lets people in on what it feels like to be a legally blind skier
For most people, just setting foot on a ski slope might give them anxiety, but for someone who can’t see, skiing might seem a daunting activity.
@SeeLikeMenna spotlights Paralympic skier
A new social campaign by Toyota lets people know what it’s like to ski down the steepest slopes at over 100 km/hr with only 3% vision. Toyota launched an Instagram account @SeeLikeMenna that takes people on the slopes through the eyes of 18-year-old visually-impaired British Para-Alpine World Cup athlete, Menna Fitzpatrick.
@SeeLikeMenna is designed to take people on Fitzpatrick’s journey as she trains to compete in her first Paralympic Games. A visual impairment filter was created in conjunction with Fitzpatrick and her sighted guide, Jennifer Kehoe, with input from the Royal National Institute for the Blind in London and a team of ophthalmic consultants, to convey the skier’s perception of the world as accurately as possible.
@SeeLikeMenna immerses you in her world, from relying on Kehoe to scoping courses before a race to checking equipment and clear Bluetooth communication – a small mishap can mean the difference between medaling up and wiping out.
The experience gets fully immersive with a 360 video on Facebook and YouTube that puts viewers on her skis. To further demonstrate the varying degrees of visual impairments, the 360 video also includes other Paralympic athletes: Marek Kubacka from Slovenia and Maciej Krezel from Poland. The video aims to help categorize the medical-based classifications for blind sport and the different degrees of visual impairment – B1 (no light perception) B2 (approximately 3% vision) and B3 (4-10% vision).
See Like Menna is part of Toyota’s 'Start Your Impossible' campaign created in honor of the company’s shift to a mobility company and eight-year worldwide partnership with The International Olympic and Paralympic Committees. The work features Olympic and Paralympic athletes and everyday people with messages of inspiration and courage, as well as future technology, all of which work together to humanize mobility.
See Like Menna was created in collaboration between Saatchi & Saatchi, Dentsu and Archer’s Mark, the independent production company behind the triple BAFTA-nominated feature Notes on Blindness.
