(1) the blind runner

When Marla Runyan was 9 years old she developed
Stargardt's Disease, a form of macular degeneration
that left her legally blind, but that never stopped her.
In 1987 she went on to study at San Diego State
University, where she began competing in several
sporting events, and her career took off until she won
four gold medals at the 1992 Summer Paralympics, and
at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta she took silver in the
shot put and gold in the pentathlon.
Her career as a world-class runner in able-bodied
events began in 1999 at the Pan American Games, where
she won the 1,500-meter race. The next year, she
placed eighth in the 1,500-meter in the 2000 Sydney
Olympics, making Runyan the first legally blind athlete
to compete in the Olympics with the highest finish by an
American woman in that event.
By 2001 she won her first of three consecutive 5000
metre National Championships. She also released her
autobiography "No Finish Line: My Life As I See It". In
2002 she added the road 5K and 10K National
Championships, and married her coach, Matt Lonergan.

(2). the blind surfer


Derek Rabelo isn't your average surfer. Far from it,
since Derek was born with congenital glaucoma.
However, that didn't stop the 20-year-old Brazilian
from learning to surf when he was just three years old.
"With God, everything is possible," he says, and religion
does play a big role in his life: his church helped take him
to Hawaii last winter, where the surf community took
Rabelo under its wing. Relying on four out of five
senses, Rabelo is the protagonist of the upcoming
documentary "Beyond Sight." If Derek's example
doesn't put trivial complaints like high tides or sideshore
winds into perspective, not a lot of other stories will.

(3). the blind driver


On January 29, 2011, Mark Anthony Riccobono took the
wheel of a Ford Escape and drove solo around the
Daytona International Speedway, something that's not
unusual except for one thing: Riccobono is blind.
Two technologies make it possible: DriveGrip, that
consists of two gloves that send vibrations over the
knuckles to tell the driver how much to turn the wheel,
and SpeedStrip, a cushion down the back and legs of the
driver which tell them how much to accelerate.
With only 10 percent of normal vision at age 5,
Riccobono continued to lose vision throughout his life.
But now, as part of a program from the National
Federation of the Blind, he's working to demonstrate
that blind people can adjust to society and drive safely
with the aid of new technology. "It's going to be a lot
of work to convince them that we can actually pilot a
vehicle that is much more complex and has much more
risk. Now we have to convince society that this
demonstration is not just a stunt. It's real. It's dynamic
research that's doing great things," said Mark.

(4) the blind chef

Chefs rely heavily on their sense of taste and smell to
cook – especially if they're blind, like the winner of the
2012 MasterChef TV Show, Christine Hà. In 2004 she
was diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica and gradually
started losing her vision, and was almost completely
blind by 2007.
While she has never studied cooking, she has a large
following on her food blog. She says, "I have to depend
a lot more on the other senses to cook – taste, smell,
how certain ingredients feel," adding that cooking
without sight just involves "a lot of organization."
In the 19 episodes of the competition third season of
MasterChef, Christine Ha won seven times in both
individual and team challenges, an additional three times
in the top 3 group, but she also finished two times in the
bottom 2/3 group. On September 10, 2012, Christine Ha
was pronounced the winner of the competition, taking
away $250,000, the title of MasterChef, the
MasterChef trophy, and a cookbook deal.

(4) the blind chef

Chefs rely heavily on their sense of taste and smell to
cook – especially if they're blind, like the winner of the
2012 MasterChef TV Show, Christine Hà. In 2004 she
was diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica and gradually
started losing her vision, and was almost completely
blind by 2007.
While she has never studied cooking, she has a large
following on her food blog. She says, "I have to depend
a lot more on the other senses to cook – taste, smell,
how certain ingredients feel," adding that cooking
without sight just involves "a lot of organization."
In the 19 episodes of the competition third season of
MasterChef, Christine Ha won seven times in both
individual and team challenges, an additional three times
in the top 3 group, but she also finished two times in the
bottom 2/3 group. On September 10, 2012, Christine Ha
was pronounced the winner of the competition, taking
away $250,000, the title of MasterChef, the
MasterChef trophy, and a cookbook deal.

(5) the blind photographer

Pete Eckert was trained in sculpture and industrial
design. He had always been a visual person and planned
to study architecture at Yale, but then he started to
lose his sight because of a condition called retinitis
pigmentosa. Amazingly enough, he embraced photography
even more after becoming blind, shooting ethereal
double exposures and vivid light paintings with his
Mamiyaflex TLR. He visualizes the image he wants to
create in his mind and uses his senses of sound, touch,
and memory to make a photograph. "I am a visual person.
I just can't see," he says.

(6) the blind driver

On January 29, 2011, Mark Anthony Riccobono took the
wheel of a Ford Escape and drove solo around the
Daytona International Speedway, something that's not
unusual except for one thing: Riccobono is blind.
Two technologies make it possible: DriveGrip, that
consists of two gloves that send vibrations over the
knuckles to tell the driver how much to turn the wheel,
and SpeedStrip, a cushion down the back and legs of the
driver which tell them how much to accelerate.
With only 10 percent of normal vision at age 5,
Riccobono continued to lose vision throughout his life.
But now, as part of a program from the National
Federation of the Blind, he's working to demonstrate
that blind people can adjust to society and drive safely
with the aid of new technology. "It's going to be a lot
of work to convince them that we can actually pilot a
vehicle that is much more complex and has much more
risk. Now we have to convince society that this
demonstration is not just a stunt. It's real. It's dynamic
research that's doing great things," said Mark.

(7). the blind architect


Christopher Downey is an architect, planner, and
consultant who lost his sight in 2008 after a tumor
wrapped around his optic nerve. How was it possible to
keep working as an architect? He works with a blind
computer scientist who has devised a way to print online
maps through a tactile printer. Today, he is dedicated to
creating more helpful and enriching environments for
the blind and visually impaired, and he also helps in
crafting design processes that are more responsive to
the needs of blind clients and end-users.

In three words, I would describe these peeps as "Extraordinarily Optimistic Folks"


Source: www.oddee.com/item_98614.aspx