{"id":16239,"date":"2025-08-08T00:33:47","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T00:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3playmedia.com\/?page_id=16239"},"modified":"2025-08-14T17:04:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:04:14","slug":"marvin-pearson","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.3playmedia.com\/learn\/faces-behind-the-screen\/marvin-pearson\/","title":{"rendered":"Faces Behind the Screen: Marvin Pearson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Faces Behind the Screen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marvin Pearson<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Return to all “Faces Behind the Screen” stories<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Marvin
Photo courtesy of Marvin Pearson\u2019s Twitter @MarvinPearson28<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Part One<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What were your childhood interests and hobbies?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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As a child, I was very athletic. I was very gifted when I was playing sports, even before I lost my vision. I loved playing football. The first football team I ever played on was the Conshohocken Bears. My uncle got me into playing sports. That was pretty much all I did. I was more of an outdoors person. I never really sat in the house and played video games. I would hang out with my friends, just playing basketball, playing football and just getting dirty on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are your passions today? How did you find your passion? And what place does it hold in your life?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Of course, I love playing sports, but I also love to read. I\u2019ve loved reading ever since I started going blind. I actually wasn\u2019t much of a reader until I lost my vision. When I started losing my vision, I was introduced to the whole blind community, which included braille and other accessible reading styles. Since then, books have been my passion. I love everything from Harry Potter to reading religious books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned braille in the second grade as soon as I started losing my vision. If braille comes across my path, I\u2019ll read braille. If audio comes across my path, I\u2019ll listen to the audio. I really don\u2019t have a preferred way to read it. It\u2019s just whatever I can get my hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did your interest in football begin? Were your family, friends, coaches, and teammates all supportive of this decision?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My interest in football began when I was young. It was the summer of the first grade when my uncle woke me up and asked, \u201cdo you want to play football?\u201d I said yes, thinking we were about to go outside in his yard and just throw the ball around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He took me to a football camp out in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. There was a whole team there. It was everybody from 65 pounds and up. They even had a little flag football team. They had adults out there playing football. I put the pads on, and that was my first time ever experiencing playing football. That was before I lost my vision because I was only about six or seven years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once I hit middle school, that was the first time I played football being blind. Everyone was supportive, but they didn\u2019t know how accessible football would be for me and they were concerned about my safety. At the time I was 4 foot 5 and 100 pounds. Unfortunately, they put a red cap on me and I became a non-contact player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you go on YouTube, along with all my other videos, you\u2019ll find that one of the very first videos that has about 1,000 views is by TJ Hill. You can see everything straight from the beginning, and how I first got into playing football despite the fact that I can\u2019t see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During high school, I was always into sports like goalball, track, wrestling, and swimming. Once I switched back to public school in the 12th grade, I joined the football team. This time around, however, it was all full contact. And that\u2019s what I love: I love the feeling of being hit. I love the feeling of running a reverse when I score touchdowns. Eventually, everybody on my team, all of my coaches, all of my fans, all my supporters, family, everybody, they were so supportive of it. Everything just worked out great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How are you able to play football without seeing anything?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So for me, it\u2019s probably a little bit easier given the fact that I was able to see at one point in time. I know the different formations and the different play calls. But even for somebody who can\u2019t see, it wouldn\u2019t be as difficult as basketball might be. It wouldn\u2019t be as difficult as baseball might be. Football is all about angles. It\u2019s all about geometry, knowing which direction to run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all about making sure you get experience. You have to practice it thousands and thousands of times throughout the course of the football season and stay consistent with play calls.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My coaches to put me in the best position to succeed. So, for me, it was developing trust with my receivers, developing trust with my running backs, and developing trust with my offensive linemen so that they will protect me and make sure that I don\u2019t take big hits. Most importantly, I have to trust in myself \u2013 to brace myself and know that that big hits are going to come and not being scared to go out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you were playing different towns in your state, did most of your opponents know they were playing with a player that is blind? Or did they have no idea?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I went to Pottstown High School, and we were playing against Pottsville High School. The coach there knew that I was blind because the article had just come out about number 28, which was me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That kind of launched me into everybody\u2019s awareness and people started to know who I was. Once my coaches seen how fast I was and seen how athletic and how strong I was, they started playing me more often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One time, we played against a school called Upper Marion. After I scored a two-point conversion, I said to the opposing coach, \u201chey, did you even realize that I couldn\u2019t see?\u201d He said no. It didn\u2019t surprise me that they didn\u2019t know that I couldn\u2019t see because they definitely didn\u2019t take it easy on me. Throughout the season, I got pretty banged up. I took some hard hits. And yeah, so it was definitely an experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s one of your proudest moments?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of my proudest moments is just being a leader in my community and being that role model that young kids can look up to. It\u2019s also being a father figure for my son, a great boyfriend, a great son, and a great brother to my family. I want to motivate people with disabilities so they know that they can do whatever they set their mind to. They can overcome any obstacle. That\u2019s what keeps me motivated to keep doing better and provide light for anybody who feels that they\u2019re in the dark.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"Marvin
Photo courtesy of Marvin Pearson\u2019s Twitter @MarvinPearson28<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Part Two<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I am blind and deaf. When people ask me, I\u2019m not ashamed of it because it has made me who I am today. Without my cochlear implants, my hearing would be gone. It\u2019s a miracle that I\u2019m able to hear at all and my speech is as good as it is. I got my implants as soon as I started losing my hearing since regular hearing aids wouldn\u2019t work for me. With my implants, I sometimes forget that I\u2019m deaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Losing my vision and hearing at a young age was challenging, especially since I was eight years old. I remember being in class and seeing blurry words. Nobody believed me at first because I was one of those kids that would play around a lot \u2013 your typical class clown. I was like the boy who cried wolf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had to start reading larger print and learning braille. I\u2019m thankful because I had the best low-vision teachers in the world. She taught me everything I needed to know about what it\u2019s going to be like at school and in the workplace. From a young age, she mentally and emotionally supported me through my vision loss. Although it was frustrating, I understood that there was nothing I could do about it. Complaining, crying, or throwing temper tantrums about the fact that I couldn\u2019t see anymore wasn\u2019t going to get my vision or my hearing back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had a great supporting cast around me. My family and friends were amazing and understood the trials and tribulations I was going through. Everybody lent out a helping hand. Even though I lost the battle of losing my vision and hearing, I won the war as far as being able to cope with it. I tell people all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mom would always encourage me and tell me to go out there and show everybody it\u2019s not just about the fact that I can\u2019t see, but that I can\u2019t see and I\u2019m accomplishing so much at a young age. I wouldn\u2019t be the person, leader, role model, and advocate I am today without my experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A common mistake sighted people make when interacting with blind people is assuming blind people can\u2019t live an everyday, normal life. I am just as capable as you are. Even my dad would tell me that I couldn\u2019t cook in the house. Until one day, he actually gave me the chance to prove to him that I\u2019m actually a better chef than he is!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important for me to share my story to provide light for somebody \u2013 whether your disabled or not. I had the opportunity to be on The Ellen Show, Fox News, ESPN, and USA Today. The main thing I tell people is that I don\u2019t want to be remembered as a deaf-blind football player. I want to be remembered as a football player that excelled and just happens to be blind and deaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been discriminated against because of my disability. One day I went to my first job interview and I got all dressed up in my business attire. The interviewer told me that he had to contact Human Resources to see if they can interview me. I never heard back from him. It was discouraging, but I used it as motivation to do better. I created an organization called the Greater Philadelphia Association of Blind Athletes. We\u2019ve teamed up with big-time organizations in the area to create a camp, Camp Champion, to give athletes a platform to feel like champions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I use my platform to help spread my story worldwide. I\u2019ve met celebrities and major athletes because of my experiences. Who knows where my life would be if I didn\u2019t lose my vision and hearing? A lot of the friends I had growing up went down the wrong path. I was able to use my experiences to become a better person and I\u2019m proud of that. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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