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Artemio was brought to the United States in 1998 from the Dominican Republic. He has Usher's syndrome, a syndrome where you are born deaf but your vision "tunnels" over time. Unfortunately, his vision has tunneled more rapidly than most, leaving him fully without vision before the age of 32. He was 27, 5 years ago, when he first became fully blind. His vision had decreased so rapidly and surprised him so much that he became fully blind before he was able to learn Braille.

Artemio lives with his parents in a basement in the Bronx and feels that his rapid decline in vision, along with his deafness has robbed him of his independence. Artemio is fully intelligent and capable on his own. As he is not yet a citizen and only possesses a green card, he is ineligible for the benefits that would be necessary to empower him to learn Braille.

His senses of smell, taste, and touch are extremely advanced, and so he sizes people up based on that. He was able to tell I was tall based on touching my shoulders and feeling their height relative to him.

When I first met Artemio, it was while rushing home via Penn Station to catch the A/C/E down to the L. I had just gotten off of NJ transit, and while I was walking down to the platform, I saw Artemio walking along the wall with his pole out. He had a big badge that said "I am deaf blind" on his chest, and at first, I didn't realize how to communicate with him. Then, Artemio pulled out a pamphlet that explained: I was to hold his finger and write what I wanted to say, letter by letter, into his palm, and he would respond by writing what HE wanted to say out onto pieces of paper. Art explained that he wanted me to help him find a Starbucks located in the station, and then to help buy the same brand of shampoo that he had been using because they had changed the shape of the bottle, and he could no longer could tell which it was.

Chloe.

Lee, from Tennessee, at Final Round 16.

He drove in from Louisiana to compete at Final Round 16 in Tekken. His wife is in the car and didn't want to be photographed.