The organization, the oldest and the largest of its kind in the US, today announced that Mark Anthony Riccobono, a blind executive who leads technology research and education programs will become the first blind person to drive a street vehicle in public.
The executive will sit behind the wheel of a Ford Escape hybrid fitted with nonvisual technology allowing a blind person to manage the vehicle without any assistance.
This activity is part of a historic demonstration that is scheduled to take place during pre-race activities leading up to the Rolex 24 at the Daytona International Speedway. If you want to witness this, you have to be there an 11:30 a.m. EST on January 29.
Mr. Riccobono said: "I have been blind since the age of five, so I never got to try for a driver's license or drive a car without another person telling me which way to steer. The NFB's leadership in the Blind Driver Challenge™ has taken something almost everyone believed was an impossible dream and turned it into reality. I am looking forward to getting behind the wheel and demonstrating to the world that being blind does not prevent me from engaging in any activity I choose as long as I am able to get the information I need. This will be a truly historic occasion for my blind brothers and sisters and for America, and I am humbled and proud to be part of it."
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