At the age of 9, Anastasia Pagonis began losing her vision progressively until the age of 14 when she was diagnosed with autoimmune retinopathy. With only light perception but no central vision, she not only lost her usable vision but also lost her relationship with sports and her positive outlook on life. With the compassion of her providers and the strong encouragement of her parents, a 5-minute walk/day turned into a walk in the park which became anxiety provoked by swimming in the pool which ultimately led to a 3 world championships, a world record and gold and bronze medal in the 2020 Paralympics.

Anastasia embraces the fact that she is perfectly imperfect and uses her platform to bring her trauma to comedy with the goal of changing how the world sees the visually impaired. Her vision may be limited, her mindset is limitless.

@anastasia_k_p