Blind skateboarding
Not Blind skateboards, but skateboarding for the blind. In a departure from the usual “how to clean your bearings” type articles, About.com has an article titled Blind Speed – Daredog, blinded as a child, picks up skateboarding at age 20. Pretty interesting stuff. To top it off, Daredog AKA Jennifer Tissot, is a woman, which is no big deal but when combined with being blind and a skateboarder makes her a super-minority. Check it out.
Thanks for posting this. For someone such as me who works with blind/visually impaired kids for a living this is a good thing to share with students who think they can’t participate in physical activity because of their blindness. Physical activity for the blind can be challenging and scary, this kid is rad.
I know a kid who was completely blinded at 14, he was a skater before he lost his sight and still skates. I’ll show this to him.
I would think that riding a vert ramp or smaller half-pipe would be possible while blind. Once you memorize the contours, you’re ready to go.
I like her idea of placing a boom box on one end of the street to indicate where to stop.
It is possible to ride a ramp in th back and forth fashion, once timing and the feel has been learned, i have done it for projects in school. falling however is scarier.
There’s a guy out there from California who has developed his own type of echolocation, he’s amazing, rides a mountain bike alone and is completely blind since 1 or 2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uobuBc2GO0o
i met him a few years back at a conference, i was blown away by what he can do.
wow! More guts than most!