A visually impaired skater dude is going viral for his ability to nail some hectic tricks on his skateboard despite his disability.
Marcelo Lusardi, AKA The Blind Rider, posted a video to his TikTok of him jumping off some stairs and doing a frontside 180 on his board.
Since he posted it back in February, it’s gained over 16.5 million views and 1.8 million likes, it’s also been reposted on the popular Instagram page @pubity, which has over 32.4 million followers.
Commenters on both the original TikTok and Pubity’s post are talking about how inspiring and motivating they find Marcelo’s commitment to shredding on the skateboard, despite being blind.
“What’s your excuse for not giving up?” said one bloke trying to rile up your inner beast.
“The unseen things we take for granted,” mused another. “Saving this for motivation in down times. Respect to this guy.”
“Perfect vision and I can’t do this,” a third commenter confessed.
“I don’t want to hear any excuses from anybody about not being able to do something,” one more shared.
Lusardi, 25 years old, lost his vision back in 2016 when he was diagnosed with the incurable, genetic disorder Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON). When he was first affected by blindness, he didn’t even fathom he would be able to skate again, which he had been doing for years.
“Getting to skate again after first losing sight was something that, at the time, was unthinkable,” he told Surferrule. “At first, I didn't plan on skating again, but in the end, with the support of my friends, I made it.
“The first day I went down with the cane to the square, everyone was surprised but, at the moment, they told me: ‘Uncle, skate again. If that's what you like, do it!’.”
He added that all the noises made at a skatepark allow him to navigate his surroundings - “the people grind, the skateboard falls” - and that all he wants out of the sport is for it to “continue giving me as much joy as it’s giving me now.”
Honestly, what a bloke.
