[nfbmi-talk] Fw: [Nfbnet-members-list] Blind Man to Take totheRoad at DaytonaInternational Speedway

Marcus Simmons MarcusSimmons at comcast.net
Sat Jan 29 14:46:18 UTC 2011


Whish I was driving again. Although, I did drive in the "fast lane" on the 
Indy 500 race track. Unfortunately it was not on race day (smile).
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J.J. Meddaugh" <jj at bestmidi.com>
To: "NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2011 12:03 AM
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] Fw: [Nfbnet-members-list] Blind Man to Take 
totheRoad at DaytonaInternational Speedway


> The excitement down here is electric right now, and I can't wait for 
> tomorrow.
> It should be on the speed channel on cable and you can listen to the demo 
> at 11:15 by going to the nfb.org website.
> Wish I was driving.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Larry Posont" <president.nfb.mi at gmail.com>
> To: "nfbmi List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, January 28, 2011 7:35 PM
> Subject: [nfbmi-talk] Fw: [Nfbnet-members-list] Blind Man to Take to 
> theRoad at DaytonaInternational Speedway
>
>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "David Andrews" <dandrews at visi.com>
>> To: <nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, January 28, 2011 5:14 PM
>> Subject: [Nfbnet-members-list] Blind Man to Take to the Road at 
>> DaytonaInternational 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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>> Nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org
>>
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>
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