[il-talk] Fwd: [Nfbnet-members-list] Blind Man to Take to the Road at Daytona International Speedway

[denise avant]

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Begin forwarded message:

> From: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>
> Date: January 28, 2011 4:14:24 PM CST
> To: nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [Nfbnet-members-list] Blind Man to Take to the Road at Daytona International Speedway
> 

> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> CONTACT:
> Chris Danielsen
> Director of Public Relations
> National Federation of the Blind
> (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
> (410) 262-1281 (Cell)
> cdanielsen at nfb.org
> Blind Man to Take to the Road
> at Daytona International Speedway
> Baltimore, Maryland (January 28, 2011):
> 
> 
> The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the oldest and largest organization of blind people in the nation, announced
> today that Mark Anthony Riccobono, a blind executive who directs technology, research, and education programs for the organization, will be the first blind
> individual to drive a street vehicle in public.  Mr. Riccobono will be behind the wheel of a Ford Escape hybrid equipped with nonvisual technology allowing
> a blind person to drive it independently as part of a historic demonstration scheduled during pre-race activities leading up to the Rolex 24 at the Daytona
> International Speedway.  The demonstration is set to take place at 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(tm) 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."
> Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "The sight of a blind individual driving a vehicle without assistance from a sighted
> person will shake the foundation of public misconceptions about blindness and blind people by showing that even tasks that are thought to require vision
> are possible if a blind person has access to information in a nonvisual way.  Vision is not a requirement for success.  Capacity, imagination, and determination
> are all that is needed, and blind people have all of these qualities."
> Mr. Riccobono was the first director of the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a state agency that serves Wisconsin's blind children.
> Since coming to the headquarters of the National Federation of the Blind in 2003, he has spearheaded many initiatives, including educational programs designed
> to engage blind youth in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  He currently serves as executive director of the NFB Jernigan
> Institute.  He and his wife Melissa, who has worked as a school counselor and serves as president of the Maryland affiliate of the NFB, live in Baltimore
> with their two small children, Austin and Oriana.
> The NFB Blind Driver Challenge(tm) is a research project of the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute-the only research and training facility
> on blindness operated by the blind.  The Jernigan Institute challenged universities, technology developers, and other interested innovators to establish
> NFB Blind Driver Challenge(tm) (BDC) teams, in collaboration with the NFB, to build interface technologies that will empower blind people to drive a car
> independently.  The purpose of the NFB Blind Driver Challenge(tm) is to stimulate the development of nonvisual interface technology.  The Virginia Tech/TORC
> NFB BDC team, under the direction of Dr. Dennis Hong, Director of the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Tech., is the only team that has accepted
> the challenge.  The team uses the ByWire XGV(tm) developed by TORC technologies as the research platform for the development and testing of the nonvisual
> interface technologies that allow a blind person to drive.
> For more information about the NFB, please visit
> www.nfb.org.
> For our digital news release about the Blind Driver Challenge(tm) and the debut of the BDC car at the Rolex 24, including audio and video clips for television
> and radio, please visit
> www.DigitalNewsRelease.com/?q=NFB_CarKit.
> 
> ###
> 
> About the National Federation of the Blind
> With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in the United
> States.  The NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and self-confidence.
> It is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's blind.  In January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of the
> Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.
> 
> 
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