From hiking to mountain biking, Daniel Kish has not let his visual impairment stop him from living life without limits.
Daniel, who has been blind since birth, has perfected a form of human echolocation using tongue-clicks to build a picture of the world. The skill has led to him being dubbed a ‘real-life Batman’ – a description he welcomes.
”It is the same process bats use,” he told the BBC. “You send out a sound or a call and sound waves are physical waves – they bounce back from physical surfaces.
“So if a person is clicking and they’re listening to surfaces around them they do get an instantaneous sense of the positioning of these surfaces.”
Echolocation has allowed Daniel to pursue outdoor hobbies such as hiking, despite being totally blind. He also says echolocation allows him to engage aesthetically with the world.
Daniel now devotes almost all his time to training other blind people in his technique, which he calls FlashSonar. More than 500 students in at least 25 countries have taken the course which is run by not-for-profit organisation, World Access for the Blind.
The Royal London Society for Blind People’s Dr Tom Pey believes that blind people should be introduced to the technique, although he doesn’t think that it is for everyone.
“You have to be able to listen in a certain way in order to interpret the message you are getting back. Not everyone can do that. And clicking may not be for you,” Dr Pey told the BBC.
“Not all of us will be able to do what Daniel does but he’s shown us that it is possible. I really tip my hat to him – long may he continue to be an inspiration for blind people.”
Read the full story on the BBC.
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