Utah Jazz Help Blind Youngster See First Basketball Game Through eSight Glasses

The Utah Jazz have made a young fan’s dream come true by helping him see his first NBA game thanks to eSight glasses.

From KUTV:

Landon Carter, 7, loves all things Utah Jazz. His favorite player is Gordon Hayward and when his dad, Jeff Carter, turns on a televised game, Landon is the first to pull up a stool and start watching.

Which is a challenge for the boy, considering Landon is legally blind.

“He was born with a condition called aniridia,” Jeff Carter said. That means Landon was born without irises; Everything he sees is perpetually blurry.

“His whole world needs to be right in front of his face instead of really being able to live the whole world,” Jeff Carter said.

But thanks to the Utah Jazz, Landon is getting a change to see the team he loves so much with crystal clear vision. The Jazz are testing a new technology to help visually impaired fans see the games when they come to Vivint Smart Home Arena.

“In Utah there are about 50,000 plus people who are listed as legally visually impaired,” said Josh Barney, Director of Technology and Innovation at the Vivint Smart Home Arena.

“It makes it something that they may have never experienced before, that they now have an opportunity to do that,” Barney said.

Vivint and the Jazz are using a new technology provided by a company called eSight.

eSight is worn like glasses, and houses a high-speed, high-definition camera that captures everything the user is looking at, and enhances the video feed and displays it on two LED screens in front of the users’ eyes.

At the Jazz-Clippers playoff game, Landon was invited to watch the players practice before the game. He was outfitted with a pair of glasses, and it was clear what he was seeing was completely new to him.

“Yeah I can see that!” he announced excitedly to his father. He was able to read signs 100 yards away, and, for the first time, to see the ball go into the basket.

For Landon’s dad, he said it doesn’t matter to him who wins the game, what matters is his son gets to see it happen.

“It’s something, I’m getting choked up now,” Jeff said. ” He hasn’t had that experience.”