In the midst of a routine school day, Joe Fournasier found himself unable to decipher the whiteboard, convinced it was time to get glasses. However, a visit to the eye doctor revealed no obvious explanation for the rapid decline in his vision. This moment sparked an unexpected journey of resilience and inspiration, shaping his path as a visually impaired athlete.
At the age of 10, Joe Fournasier experienced a significant setback when he lost 96 per cent of his vision. At that moment, he believed that he would never be able to pursue his greatest passion: playing hockey. He was diagnosed with hereditary neuropathy disorder causing Fournasier to lose his central vision in a month.
“When it first happened, my whole life kind of just flipped upside down,” said Fournasier.
The loss of playing his favorite sport was only one struggle Fornasier told the Emerge news site , it was the daily routines that was also a huge adjustment.
“I’d say reading is a huge thing that you lose, walking up and down the stairs, just daily things, making food, talking to people and trying to look at them, I guess even simple things.”
Fournier’s love of the game all began as soon as he was able to put skates on, continuing the family tradition of playing hockey.
“My dad was a huge hockey guy and big Leafs fan, so I guess I started playing when I was like three years old. My dad built his backyard rink for me. He thought hockey was kind of like a big deal so playing on the backyard rink every day from when I was sighted until I was 10 years old.”
After losing his sight at such a young age, his dream of becoming a professional hockey player disintegrated. His love and desire to play was nowhere to be found. Fournier struggled being associated with the word ‘blind’ or having to tell friends and teammates he was now visually impaired.
“I didn’t even want to be associated with blindness because I was trained to believe that that was bad. Even when my dad thought of a blind hockey and said like ‘hey you might be able to play hockey again’ which was like the love of my life, I said no like I didn’t even want to play blind hockey and he pretty much forced me to go to that first ever session. and if he never did that I don’t know where I would have been today but he forced me to go there and I had like, the best time of life was being able to actually play hockey.It completely changed my life i didn’t tell anyone about it.”
Shortly thereafter, Fournasier climbed up the ranks in the Canadian Blind Hockey league on his way to becoming the youngest on the national Canadian Blind Hockey team. Along that journey, he met many more visually impaired hockey players helping him feel like himself.
“Having role models that are also visually impaired, getting to see other visually impaired, successful people, because when I first lost my sight, I thought, well, this is it, I’m not going do anything with my life, I’m just going to sit around, mope, maybe I’ll get a better way to job and do that for the rest of my life,”
Not only is Fournier the youngest Canadian Blind Hockey athlete ever, he has successfully created his own platform on both Instagram and Tiktok. Across both platforms, Fornasier has accumulated just under 90 thousand followers and 2.5 million likes. His videos often respond to questions asked by fans and followers that are curious about how he plays hockey as a partially sighted person.
“ My social media took off and one of the reasons was kind of cool. I think I can play hockey well and that cool guy and regular dude, Just because you have visual impairment doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing, right? My social media helped me connect with others in a world where I don’t think I would be able to connect with them outside of it.”
Although most of his videos can be seen as entertainment, his goal with the platforms is continuing to inspire the younger generation who might be struggling as a visually impaired person and athlete.
“As a visually impaired athlete, I strive to not just entertain, but to inspire the younger generation facing similar struggles I had when I first lost my vision. I have so many great mentors that helped me in my struggles that I want to continue doing the same…Everyone wants to be viewed the same.”
The 2024 Canadian National Blind Hockey tournament would have been Fournasier’s third consecutive tournament as the youngest national team member. However, a shoulder surgery in the beginning of January to repair a torn ligament will have him watching this year’s tournament from the stands.
General manager of Canadian Blind Hockey Luca DeMontis ensures Joe will be back on the ice to join them as the team travels to the U.S in the Spring.
“It’s unfortunate he got injured right before the tournament but I’m confident he can rehab before our Spring series in the U.S.”
Despite a minor setback sidelining Fournasier for most of the 2024 blind hockey season, his journey shows that with resilience and passion any dream can become possible paving the way for younger blind hockey players in the future.