born almost completely blind and left on the sidewalk at only 6 months old when his mother could no longer care for him, he had no idea as to what caused his vision loss or even who he was. he had no name, not home, no medical records. he was lucky to be discovered by a woman soon after being abandoned, who took him to the police so he could be placed in an orphanage. the orphanage became a good home to him, ran by an american-korean woman who had moved to seoul with the intent in mind to help out children who did not have a home.

it wasn’t long before he was named echo, as he only seemed to react happily to sounds, especially music. while most kids his age would rather dive into the wavering currents of youth, echo’s lack of colours and hues coaxed him to chose to seek refuge in the tranquility of sound. he grew up with music as his first and only love, those around him swore he could dance before he could properly walk. he could still see slightly, but everything was muted in color. cotton candy vision is the best way they describe it. it’s not a lack of color, it’s just limited color. and he could really only detect motion, not able to actually make anything out properly.

music and dance continued to be a big part of his life and he decided early on that dance was something he wanted to do for the rest of his time on earth, it was a part of him. as soon as he finished high school, he joined university as a dance major. he wasn’t sure what kind of job it was going to land him, but he wanted to do something other than sitting around collecting his disability checks.

his disability didn’t really bother him, he helped him in some ways. he was able to get help from the government to afford his small apartment, it was a single level as stairs weren’t really his friend. he was also provided a service dog, a black and white husky he named moose. moose was able to guide echo around and make sure he didn’t put himself in danger while walking, and guide him to doors and chairs on command.

he is comfortable talking about his blindness, he feels like if he just avoided it he would end up in some state of denial. it was just who he was, he wasn’t ashamed. he could get around rather well, he didn’t know what it was like to see properly anyway, it didn’t bother him.