Watch as vision-impaired woman rappels down central Pa. building: video

From rock climbing to scaling the side of tall buildings, nothing is too much of a challenge for Scarlet Nishimoto, despite being diagnosed as vision-impaired at birth.

“So my father is legally blind, he was born with bilateral cataracts and glaucoma, it is genetic and congenital so I was born with it myself,” she said.

Being presented with this challenge in life, Nishimoto studied at James Madison University and earned a degree in social work so that she could empower others and remind them to never limit themselves because of a disability.

She also has a 17-month-old daughter that has also been diagnosed as vision-impaired and said her goal is to set herself as an example that anything is possible.

“My father worked incredibly hard to provide me with opportunities and I want to do the same for her. ... I want her to have even more opportunities than I had growing up and so that’s why I work as hard as I do,” she said.

Nishimoto works as a contract closeout specialist with VisionCorps and participated in the organization’s second annual Eye Drop 2022 event on Friday.

VisionCorps mission is to support individuals who are blind and vision impaired to help them become independent.

This is the second year the company has held its Eye Drop fundraising event. The goal is to try and raise $1,000. Winners of the fundraiser received the opportunity to scale down the Holiday Inn Lancaster, located at the corner of Queen and Chestnut streets in Lancaster.

Raising awareness for an event like this is of high importance to Nishimoto, but she also wants other vision-impaired individuals to know that they too can do whatever they want.

“There’s a stereotype among individuals with disabilities that we’re static, that we can’t do a lot of things ... but that’s just not true,” she said.

Nishimoto said she considers herself to be very adventurous, and some of her favorite hobbies include rock climbing, bungee jumping and riding roller coasters.

Nishimoto raised money by holding a costume contest where participants could choose from a list of which outfit she would wear for the rappelling event. For every $10 donated, a chosen costume would receive a vote.

The winning costume was a Pikachu outfit, which she rappelled to while playing the Pokemon theme song, “Gotta Catch ‘Em All.”

“The public is always taught, ‘Oh, there’s a person with a disability. Don’t look at them. Don’t make eye contact’,” Nishimoto said. “An event like the Eye Drop, it’s very in your face. You can’t look away and you want to know more, you want to ask questions and and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

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