EP 278: Seneida Biendarra
June 9, 2025
Seneida Biendarra is the 2023 US National Champion in the women’s B2 (severely blind) category. We talked about losing her vision as a teenager, her current visual experience, creating mental maps of the world, finding freedom in risk, designing outdoor gear, the world of paraclimbing and the adaptive community, sight guiding, the empathy gun, embracing chapters in life, and much more.
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Show Notes:
Related Episodes:
References:
Black Diamond Presents: Onsight
Portland Trail Blazers offer fans with vision loss a way to experience a live game
Seneida’s Links:
Nuggets:
00:00:00 – Intro
00:02:00 – 1950s appliances
00:05:08 – A fresh start
00:07:49 – Seneida’s visual experience
00:10:00 – Losing vision
00:17:02 – The map
00:19:38 – Visual experience continued
00:23:35 – An invisible disability
00:25:56 – Daily living vs. climbing
00:29:44 – Meeting other blind climbers
00:36:08 – Crashes
00:39:34 – Risk & freedom
00:44:48 – Early climbing
00:48:32 – An onsight philosophy
00:52:19 – Visualization
00:55:09 – Lights out
01:01:49 – Accessibility tools & basketball
01:05:59 – Designing gear
01:13:06 – Parents & childhood
01:17:08 – Backpacking
01:19:21 – Daily living continued
01:28:55 – Nate
01:31:10 – Sight Guiding
01:37:40 – The world of paraclimbing
01:41:28 – 2028 Olympics
01:46:09 – Identity & community
01:49:51 – Mourning, normalizing, & sympathy
01:53:31 – How to be a supportive sighted person
01:56:25 – Empathy gun
02:01:09 – Parts of ourselves
02:04:45 – Interpersonal bonds
02:12:39 – Embracing chapters
02:18:53 – Self-driving taxis
02:21:55 – Spotlighting the adaptive community
02:26:12 – “You belong more than you think you do.”
02:29:45 – New designs