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

Sat Jan 29 15:40:51 UTC 2011

that is cool

On 1/29/11, Marcus Simmons <MarcusSimmons at comcast.net> wrote:
> 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.
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Nfbnet-members-list mailing list
>>> Nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
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-- 
jeff crouch