- Slug: BC-CNS-CN2Go Weekly Update. Runtime 6:44.
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(Music)
THIS IS YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2GO BRIEFING.
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I’M ROXANNE DE LA ROSA…
HOST: LEARNING HOW TO RIDE A SKATEBOARD TAKES DEDICATION AND CONFIDENCE. YOU CAN’T BE AFRAID TO FALL AND CRASH.
BLIND SKATEBOARDER COCO ATAMA ISN’T AFRAID OF FALLING AND CERTAINLY ISN’T AFRAID OF BEING THEIR TRUE SELF.
CRONKITE NEWS’ AYANA (A-YAH-NUH HAMILTON) HAS MORE.
HAMILTON: The 2018 National Health Interview Survey says more than 32 million American adults reported experiencing vision loss.
Blind people often face a stigma that the American Foundation for the Blind describes as, “The belief that blindness equals uselessness … has prevailed so long and so firmly in western culture that its traces have yet to be fully erased.”
Defying any stereotype, 27-year-old Coco Atama is a multifaceted person – who happens to be blind.
ATAMA: I am a blind skateboarder from the Los Angeles area. Basically, I was born with perfect sight that was gradually losing itself faster between the ages of 12 and 16 and slower after the age of 19. But as a result, I can’t really see much detail beyond light shadows, the occasional splash of color, and basic form recognition but no movement and hyper photosensitivity.
HAMILTON: Atama has been skateboarding for most of their life.
ATAMA: I’ve been an adrenaline sports junkie my entire life because my dad was always into skiing, driving race cars, skydiving, snowboarding, all of these things. So skateboarding was just a piece of life. However, it would take me losing my sight and dealing with a large amount of depression because of it for me to actually get serious about skateboarding.
HAMILTON: In a 2021 CDC study, one in four adults with vision loss reported anxiety or depression. Atama says skateboarding, along with acting, comedy, music, making videos, and dancing, keeps him going.
ATAMA: Skateboarding is a performance, it’s a display skill that you can show off to those around you and showcase your individuality.
HAMILTON: It was a nice sunny afternoon. Atama has been to many skate parks, but they were trying out a new one in LA’s San Fernando Valley.
People of all ages were skating and chatting away.
Atama caught the attention of some skaters as they watched with curiosity. They maneuvered the board while holding a white-and-red cane to feel around for bumps, dips and curves.
At first, they needed a hand learning the layout. A skater who goes by the name Sauce was on hand to brief him.
SAUCE: I noticed he was asking for help. Nobody stopped to even help. I was like, ‘Bro like what? You need help?’ I was like, ‘I got you,’ and now meeting him, I’m just like. ‘You’re a light.’ Seeing him kill it out here is so dope. It’s really dope, and it makes me like dude, if he could do it, I’m about to get on a board, bro.
HAMILTON: Atama is about more than skateboarding. He starred in a 2022 stage production titled “The Braille Legacy,” about how Louis Braille invented a system of reading and writing for the blind. He played Braille.
ATAMA: It was my first time, my first lead role in a musical. It was my third lead role overall in the world of theater. I honestly say that was my Hamilton for that time. But this was sort of like that because having not only someone’s shoes to fill a historical figure whose name you know, but whose invention you rely on to this day. I am a Braille nut.
HAMILTON: Atama continued to say that showcasing the creator of Braille to a new audience is scary but exciting.
They are not shy about expressing themselves and advocates for others to do the same.
ATAMA: You are the only you you’ve got, and if somebody makes fun of you, if somebody’s judging you, if somebody hates on you, that’s a good thing because you know what that means. It means that they hate or disrespect or dislike or are annoyed by the purest, most you.
HAMILTON: To quote the American Foundation for the Blind, “Blindness today slices across every stratum of society. It encompasses the same proportions of the wise and the foolish, the gifted and the stupid, the efficient and the fumbling, the aggressive and the diffident as any other random sample of the population.”
Atama’s story is unique to them, just like all of our stories are unique to us.
Ayana Hamilton, Cronkite News, Los Angeles
HOST: THE AREA NEAR LEES FERRY IN MARBLE CANYON, ARIZONA, LEADS TO THE ENTRANCE OF THE GRAND CANYON. HERE VISITORS CAN SPEND THEIR DAYS FLY-FISHING AND KAYAKING ON THE COLORADO RIVER. BUT THE FATE OF THIS WIDELY POPULAR TOURIST ATTRACTION IS UNCERTAIN. I TOOK A RIDE ON THE RIVER TO SEE HOW TOURIST BUSINESSES ARE FARING DURING THE DROUGHT.
VOICE TRACK: Jeff English has worked at Lees Ferry as a fishing guide for the past 33 years.
<<ENGLISH: “Nothing bad has happened here, yet.” >>
VOICE TRACK: But if high temperatures and low rainfalls continue it might be detrimental for guides like him.
The Colorado River is experiencing record-low water levels due to an increase in temperatures and water overuse. Around 40 million people depend on this water supply.
<<ENGLISH: “If we were to suffer a few more years of really drought years we could lose a lot of the river and ultimately the fishery and the entire recreation aspect that this place provides.” >>
VOICE TRACK: Sam Jensen, another guide from Flagstaff, Arizona, has been taking tourists whitewater rafting and camping through the Grand Canyon for about 30 years. Jensen is concerned too. The drought has caused warmer water temperatures and because of that….
<< JENSEN: “Last year we saw more dead trout floating along or washed up on shore than I have ever seen before.”
VOICE TRACK: Even with the looming drought, so far it has been business as usual for English and Jensen. People continue to come from all over the country to experience the natural beauty of the Colorado River
But for how long their businesses will stay afloat remains to be seen.
Roxanne De La Rosa, Cronkite News.
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WE HAD HELP TODAY FROM Ayana Hamilton. (Bring up music and duck below)
YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STORIES YOU HEARD IN TODAY’S NEWS UPDATE, BY GOING TO CRONKITENEWS-DOT-AZPBS-DOT-ORG.
THAT’S ALL FOR YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2 GO. I’M Roxanne De La Rosa .
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