Sprinter’s race for love before he goes blind
DATE SHOW LAST HOPE
A SPRINTINGSP champ is facing the toughestt race of his life - find finding love before he lose loses his sight. So Souleyman Bah, 18, was born with rare degenerative eye condition reti retinitis pigmentosa and expects to be b blind in a few years. H His disability has left him “too fea fearful” to date. S So tomorrow he will appear on Ch Channel 4’s The Undateables in a bid to find a partner. S Souleyman, who currently has 25 per cent vision in one eye and ten per c cent in the other, said: “My condition increases the pressure to find someo someone. “I d don’t just want to be in love with a body and a voice, I want to b be in love with someone I can s see and appreciate. “Before, I’ve been to too fearful to approach relatio relationships. You fear no one wan wants something that’s broken.” Souleyman, who won goldgo in the 100m Paralymp Paralympic School Games in Bra Brazil and has been selec selected for the Briti British Athletics TalentTale Developme Development Squad, added added: “It’s a very difficult disability to live with. Most disabilities are static. You have it and you deal with it.
“But with RP you start off life with vision and it gets worse.
“Every day you see less and less of the world around you.”
Souleyman, of south-west London, went on: “The outcome of my disability is that one day I will be 100 per cent blind. I had these psychological barriers, thinking girls won’t want to date me.”
Speaking about the show, he said: “I thought it was a good opportunity to address my fears and I wanted to do it on such a big platform to raise some positive awareness.”
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He added: “Because I haven’t dated I wasn’t sure what I was looking for but I’d like to be with someone understanding, kind, brave and attractive.
“If I’m looking at somebody’s face I can only see a section of it at a time, like their eyes or nose or mouth.
“So I have to piece all that together in my head to get an idea of their face.”
Souleyman would not reveal the outcome of his appearance on the show, but said: “The person I went on a date with fully accepted my disability and didn’t see it as much of a barrier.
“The show gave me a confidence boost and made me realise there are people out there who are willing to accept you for who you are.”
The Undateables, Channel 4, tomorrow at 9pm.