A few months ago I was contacted by Mike May, who happens to be the subject of the Robert Kurzon’s recent book Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure and the Man who Dared to See. If you’re familiar with the book, you know that Mike was blinded at the age of three, but that didn’t stop him from being a daunting overachiever. CIA employee, world record-setting skier, businessman, inventor–like I say, daunting. It was gratifying to learn that he’s a fan of A Sense of the World, and that he rightly views James Holman as a kindred spirit. Unlike Holman however, his story has a fascinating, modern twist. Thanks to innovations in stem cell research, he was able to undergo an operation that actually restored a measure of sight–a surprisingly mixed blessing, considering how well-adapted he had been to the non-visual world.

Mike is also CEO of Sendero Group, the company that pioneered “talking map” software for the GPS. That innovation that has greatly increased the independence of many modern-day blind travelers, and in the spirit of both Crashing Through and A Sense of the World, Sendero is sponsoring an annual  scholarship award “for the most impressive travel adventure for the year” by a non-visual traveler. read more »

02.13.09 § 0