Chinese 46 YO Blind scaled the Mouth Everest. Victory well deserved.

Try walking with lights off in your room. Close your eyes and walk till you reach your main door. How would you feel? You would surely strike your toes to the coffee table or the couch in your way. Just wait without turning on the emergency light or lighting up a candle when the power goes off. You can surely sense the void. If this is the case with us, then what the blind folks must be going through all their lives? Walking, eating, moving, learning, - everything in the shadows of darkness. However, days are gone when people with disabilities sit complaining about their helplessness. They are proving that they are no less than the normal ones. A 46-year-old man from China is a fresh example of what a strong mind can do irrespective of physical disabilities. He told Reuters, "No matter if you're disabled or normal, whether you have lost your eyesight or you have no legs or hands, it doesn't matter as long as you have a strong mind, you can always complete a thing that other people say you can't". He is Zhang Hong and this is his story of triumph. 

Lost Eyesight To Fate But Not His Willpower: 

Zhang Hong was born in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing. At the age of 21, unfortunately, Zhang lost his sight owing to glaucoma. Ever since then, his life saw nothing but darkness. However, it is not difficult for strong-minded people to look for the light in the darkness. Zhang didn't lose hope and always wanted to achieve bigger. He was inspired by Erik Weihenmayer, a blind man from America who scaled Mount Everest in 2001. Zhang also wanted to script history and started to train under the guidance of his friend Qiang Zi, a mountain guide. Though Zhang prepared himself for the expedition, the corona virus-induced lockdown barred him from scaling the mountain. Once Nepal reopened Mount Everest in April for foreigners, Zhang found his way to the peak. On May 24, 2021, Zhang scaled the 8,849 metre-high Himalayan mountain with three high-altitude guides and successfully returned to the base camp. Speaking about his experience, Zhang Hong said, "I was still very scared because I couldn't see where I was walking, and I couldn't find my centre of gravity, so sometimes I would fall. But I kept thinking because even though it was hard, I had to face those difficulties, this is one component of climbing, there are difficulties and dangers and this is the meaning of climbing." 

This 46-year-old thus became the third visually impaired person in the globe for having scaled the tallest peak in the world. Also, he is the first blind person from Asia to climb Mount Everest.

Applause From Everywhere: 

Zhang didn't fail to update his moves too while on his trekking journey. He kept posting regular updates on his Twitter account showing glimpses of the snow-covered mountains through short videos. "I'm blind, but at least I'm not afraid of heights.", he wrote in one of his videos. When Zhang announced his victorious feat through his official Twitter handle, appreciations and praises poured in on him from across the globe. He wrote on his Twitter account, "I summited Everest," also thanking all those who were a part of his victory. "I would like to thank my family, my guides, the folks at Fokind Hospital, and Asian Trekking, who have been extremely supportive of my journey", he mentioned. He also said that this feat is just the beginning and the next one in his future endeavours would be the seven-summits. 

What a great sip of inspiration today from this Asian man who proved that being deprived of something doesn't make you disabled for life. Just keep your mind going and it will take you everywhere.