(Updated 8:30 a.m., Aug. 24)
Orléans man on a mission to change peoples attitudes
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Kevin Frost is out to prove to people that deaf and blindness is a challenge that can be met and conquered with the right attitude. Fred Sherwin/Photo

It’s not easy being good at what you do. Take a deaf and blind person as soon as they get used to the various challenges thrown at them and are able to live as close to a normal life as possible, people start doubting you’re actually handicapped.

“I’ve had people come up to me when I’m with Nemo, my deaf and blind guide dog, and ask me what it’s like training guide dogs,” recalls Frost, 38, who is on a mission to change peoples’ attitude that deaf and blind people have to constantly be bumping into walls and knocking over furniture.

Frost started losing his hearing in grade school. At first, he couldn’t hear anything under 65 decibels. Over time it slowly deteriorated to the point where he can’t hear anything over 95 decibels.

Frost managed to graduate from Gloucester High School after getting a hearing aid and by learning to lip read.

After graduation he met his wife Karen and got married and even started refereeing, a job in which not being able to hear the players or their parents complain can be a plus. He eventually had two children Madison, 9, Montana, 7, and Mitchel, 4, and worked at a local food distributor as a loading dock driver.

You could say Frost’s life was as normal as yours or mine, but all that was about to change.

In 2002, he noticed that he was bumping into things and he and started knocking objects over that normally would have been in his field of vision.

When he went to get his eyesight he was told he had Usher’s Syndrome, a rare degenerative disease that slowly debilitates a person’s eyesight and hearing. When Frost was first diagnosed his field of vision was 12 per cent. Today, it’s only eight per cent.

“Each year it gets worse,” says Frost who had to give up refereeing and his job at the food distributor which he held for 17 years.

“It was shocking news and then to have everything taken away. I went through a depression, you know, ‘Why me? ’ and then a period of denial and anger. But then slowly I got out of it with the help of my family and my psychologist and I decided that I was going to do something with my life,” says Frost.

The first thing he did was learn braille with the aid of his wife who helps integrate children with physical and mental disabilities into the school system. Less than a year later he got Nemo, his guide dog.

Something else happened that would totally change his life. His wife worked with a man named Ron Guerard who suggested that he take up speed skating. Frost, who considers himself a workaholic, jumped at the opportunity.

“The worse thing you can do if you have a handicap is sit around. When you sit around you grow older faster. The secret to freedom is being active,” says Frost, who practices what he preaches. Besides speed skating he also golfs and does dragon boating with a team of other legally blind competitors, although he’s the only one who’s also legally blind.

Kevin Frost tees off during a recent golf tournament as his beloved guide dog Nemo looks on. Fred Sherwin/Photo

But speed skating is Frost’s true passion. After training for 100 hours with members of the Gloucester Concordes Speedskating Club he started entering competitive races. He watches the other skaters to figure out when the race is about to start and he can make out the orange cones that mark the inside of the speedskating oval. In his rookie season last year, he won two silver and two bronze medals.

The initial success has only served to fuel Frost’s fire even more. He now has a complete team behind him that includes a sports psychologist, a fitness trainer, a chiropractor and a core strength trainer.

His goal is to one day compete in the Paralympics, the only problem is that speed skating is not a Paralympic sport – yet.
Frost has enlisted the help of a public relations advisor to try and spread his story around the world so that the International Paralympic Association will eventually take notice.

Thus far, he’s found two blind speed skaters in Australia and he’s heard there’s a couple in Russia. Then there’s Japan and South Korea. With over 70,000 active speed skaters in South Korea, Frost is certain some of them are either deaf or blind.

Besides the thrill of competing and the meaning that it brings to his life, speed skating also allows Frost a platform to show the world and especially other legally deaf and blind people, that the secret to freedom is being active and staying positive.

“I don’t care of if someone puts a mountain in front of me. I’ll go over it, around it, under it or through it if I have to,” says Frost without a hint of exaggeration.

In his spare time Frost works with businesses and government agencies including the Ottawa Police Service on how to deal with people with disabilities, especially those with guide dogs.

He also makes a habit of visiting schools and talking to students about what it’s like being deaf and blind. He brings a pair of ear muffs with him to demonstrate his level of hearing and a pair of glasses that have been blacked out, except for a pin hole in the middle of each lens to demonstrate what he can see.

“My philosophy is to live life to the fullest no matter what life throws at you. I want to educate people. I want to motivate people – especially anyone who has recently found out their going blind or they’re losing their hearing. Deaf and blindness is not a death sentence, it’s merely a challenge that can be overcome if you stay active,” says Frost.

To learn more about Frost’s story, you can visit his website at www.ushersyndromeskater.com.

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