Legally blind boy sees his basketball dreams come true

Do you love basketball? Ethan LaCroix does. A 13 year-old boy like him is probably out shooting hoops any chance he can get, right? There's only one problem.

Ethan is legally blind. Though he can technically see, his vision is so poor that he can only sees blurs and colours on his own. Even conventional glasses can't help him much.

But thanks to a new device from a Toronto company called eSight, he didn't miss anything that happened during a recent special day. Check out the video below to see it for yourself!

The numbers of being legally blind

The eyes of a blind person are unable to process any information at all. They "see" complete darkness at all times. A legally blind person like Ethan, however, has eyesight that is so weak, it is similar to being blind.

In the video, Ethan's mother mentions that he has 20/400 vision in one eye, 20/600 in the other. Ever wonder what that means?

20/20 vision is a term that means you have normal vision. If you have it, it means that you can see an object that is 20 feet away as clearly as an average person. 20/40 vision means that you see that same 20-foot-away object as an average person would see one that is 40 feet away. In other words, it would appear more blurry and distant to you—and this means that you have weaker vision. You would get glasses to help you.

But 20/600 vision like Ethan's? It would be a little like reading the writing on the blackboard... from the back row of a baseball stadium. Thankfully, technology is helping people experience the sights that most of us take for granted.