A promotional image related to a podcast episode featuring a blind surfer, likely highlighting the story or experiences of a visually impaired individual in the context of homeownership or real estate.

Blind Surfer

Apr 16, 2024

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The first time Ling Pai’s life changed drastically was when her family immigrated to Canada from Thailand. Looking out the bathroom window of her new Vancouver apartment changed how she saw the world.

“It’s just this beautiful skyline of downtown Vancouver and then the mountains in the back and the beautiful water as well,” Ling said. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, everything is just so big and vast and open.’”

Despite the possibilities this new home held, it was also where Ling would experience adversity that would impact the rest of her life. When she first arrived in Canada, she couldn’t speak English. She struggled to understand her teachers and keep up in class. Luckily, a bilingual friend stepped in to help translate lessons for her.

“This girl turned around and she said, ‘Shut up. Speak English,’” Ling said. “And the girl that was translating for me said, ‘Well, she doesn’t speak English. That’s why I’m trying to help her.’ And the girl said, ‘If you can’t speak English, then don’t speak at all.’”

Ling didn’t understand English, but she understood that exchange. She didn’t want to be treated as “less than” for not being able to do something. She was already an independent child, but this exchange hardened her; she decided that would be the last time she felt that way. She would handle problems on her own and never let people see her struggle.

Not long after this incident, Ling would get news that would drastically change her worldview, and her life, again.

When she was 14, Ling went to the doctor for an eye infection. During the exam, her doctor discovered Ling was colorblind. After performing a few more tests, Ling was diagnosed with dominant optic atrophy, a genetic disease with no cure and no treatment.

“So, my eyesight will get worse as I get older,” Ling remembers. “And I will probably go blind one day, but they don’t know when.”

The diagnosis felt surreal. Her annual eye exams filled her with dread, she would spend the whole week in her room crying. Still, she wouldn’t talk to her mom or sister about how she was feeling. She focused her energy on being outdoors as much as possible. She went camping and hiking, she took up snowboarding and eventually surfing. She graduated with a degree in kinesiology. Her eyesight degraded a bit, but she managed.

After graduating, Ling was eager to move beyond her life in Vancouver. She and her boyfriend moved to rural Nova Scotia, where she bought her first house. The new home represented a new start for Ling, she was striking out on her own.

“It was me wanting to show that at age 27, I’ve accomplished something,” Ling said.

It was while living in Nova Scotia that Ling first tried surfing. Despite her worsening vision, she didn’t mention her condition to her instructor or anyone else.

“It’s just water,” she said. “And it’s okay if I paddle for the wrong wave. It’s okay if the wave hits me and I’m underwater for a little bit. I’m attached to this flotation device. I will surface.”

Surfing felt like freedom to Ling. She wasn’t thinking about her anxieties or problems. The rush of catching a wave gave her a natural high that hooked her right away.

But back on land, her vision suddenly got much worse. She depended on her boyfriend more than ever to get around. And then she began to resent him for it.

“That was really tough because it was the first time I felt like I had lost my independence,” she said. “I wasn’t able to go out and do things without asking somebody.”

And even still, Ling hid her disease from everyone around her. She developed methods to cope and faked her way through social interactions. But her love of sports and the outdoors was a different story. She was tripping and falling – a lot – while trail running. This was more than an inconvenience, it was dangerous.

When the wedge growing between Ling and her boyfriend was too much to overcome, they eventually broke up. Without him, she couldn’t navigate through her day-to-day activities. She reluctantly moved back to Vancouver and left her Nova Scotia home.

She was back in the apartment with her mom and sister. She was 29 now, and it was time for her annual eye exam.

“[The doctor] said, ‘your eyes have gotten bad enough that I’m going to declare you as legally blind. That is your current disability status,’” Ling said. “It was a lot to deal with at the time. My eyes, moving back home with my mom and sister, ending a relationship …”

Being labeled legally blind was something Ling had been dreading. But it wasn’t in her nature to let anything stop her. There was a new kind of freedom in accepting her condition.

“Getting the diagnosis of being legally blind at almost 30 set me free because it was something that I couldn’t really hide or ignore anymore,” she said. “I can finally be honest and just say, ‘I can’t see.’”

The official disability status opened doors for Ling that she hadn’t anticipated, like an adaptive ski program. Skiing blind? It’s an adrenaline junkie’s dream.

She was assigned two guides – one in front to guide her and one behind to protect her back.

“And I wore this bright orange vest that said BLIND SKIER on it,” Ling said. “That was probably the first time I felt like I didn’t have to be embarrassed to tell people that I can’t see.”

Ling eventually connected with the manager of Canada’s adaptive surfing team. They were eager to get her on the team and even invited her to compete later that year. A month before the competition, she headed down to California to train.

There she met another adaptive surfer, Chris Oberle, who offered to help her train. He is paralyzed from the waist down and uses and paddle and wave ski – a surfboard he can sit on and strap himself into. He went surfing every morning before work and offered to pick Ling up to go, too.

“I have a visual impairment, but I am physically capable,” Ling said. “Chris is in a wheelchair, so it’s a lot easier for me to move his board down to the beach for him or to the water’s edge. But once we’re in the water, he’s helping me.”

They were a great match, both in the surf and out. They grew close and eventually fell in love.

In that first competition, Ling landed a silver medal. But more importantly, she met a bunch of other surfers with disabilities who didn’t make her feel different, or less than, because of her visual impairment. With them, the conversation was about what she accomplished, not what she couldn’t do – it was what she had been looking for since her diagnosis at age 14.

To hear Ling’s full story, check out this episode of Home. Made.

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