> To: [email protected] > From: [email protected] > Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2010 06:10:40 +0000 > Subject: [nab_friends] sailing without sight > > By NICK BURNS > SAN FRANCISCO—When Ed Gallagher goes sailing, he wears a webcam on his head, > straps a netbook computer to his hip and hops onto a boat with his dog. Then > he relies on Herb Meyer, a skipper back on land, to watch the live, streaming > webcam video and give him instructions. > Sailing Without Sight > View Slideshow > > Brian L. Frank for The Wall Street Journal > • More photos and interactive graphics > Mr. Gallagher, who is 59 years old, is blind. "I used to listen to the old > blind guys who had been sailing for years say you don't really need your > eyes," he says. "I wanted the ability for blind people to truly sail by > themselves without a whole crew." > Mr. Gallagher's sailing experiment was on view one Sunday afternoon recently. > While Mr. Meyer, who is also disabled, parked his wheelchair at the bar in > the San Francisco Yacht Club with a laptop, cellphone and a beer, Mr. > Gallagher was in a 36-foot sailboat with his guide dog, Genoa. > "Tack left, Ed. Tack left," Mr. Meyer spoke into his headset. "Ed, you're not > listening to me. I'm the captain. Tack left. Oh, I lost him again," he said > after the screen went dark from a weak signal. For Mr. Meyer, who still sails > after a boating accident left him wheelchair-bound 17 years ago, it was like > playing a videogame. > > Blind sailor Ed Gallagher has developed webcam technology called Genoa > Systems that allows him to take his boat out solo, with the aid of a sighted > partner back on shore. WSJ's Nick Burns reports. > The sailing experiment is part of Mr. Gallagher's broader project to offer a > remote guidance system to help the blind perform everyday tasks from reading > expiration dates on food packaging to crossing streets (since bicycles and > hybrid cars are difficult to hear). In the past four years, the retired > building contractor has performed a number of dangerous—and ordinary—tasks > using the system. > He has driven a car through the Rocky Mountains, fired handguns, practiced > archery and repaired his broken thermostat—all the while receiving > instructions from a sighted person miles away. > Mr. Gallagher's vision loss prevents him from obtaining a drivers license, so > it is illegal for him to operate a car. But a spokesman from the California > Department of Boating and Waterways says no federal or California laws > prohibit him from recreational boating as long as he "obeys the rules of the > road." > > Ed Gallagher and Genoa > Mr. Gallagher says he hopes that with his system and others like it, visually > impaired users will feel more comfortable working outside their homes. The > U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey estimated that in > August 2010, approximately 75% of nearly 4 million people over the age of 16 > who reported being blind were "not in the labor force." > "Technology is a tremendous liberator for people with vision loss and most > people with disabilities," says Mark Richert, director of public policy for > the American Foundation for the Blind, in Washington. > Mr. Gallagher's system is controversial, and it isn't foolproof. Last March, > the San Francisco resident suffered a bad concussion in a skiing accident in > Aspen, Colo., when he hit a big rock that his guide hadn't seen, flipped over > and landed headfirst. It took him months to recover. > "I've been going skiing there for years," he says. "After this accident, I > think it's time to hang up my skis." > Mr. Gallagher, who grew up in Lake Fenton, Mich., lost his sight 15 years ago > to cytomegalovirus retinitis, or CMV retinitis, a rare viral infection. An > avid sailor, he says that he thought at the time that his vision loss "was > the end of sailing." > But Mr. Gallagher regained his sea legs when the Department of Veterans > Affairs suggested that he join a nonprofit organization called Bay Area > Association of Disabled Sailors in 2000. The group offers specially > engineered dinghies that allow its quadriplegic and paraplegic members to > sail solo. > That inspired Mr. Gallagher to pioneer a system that would achieve the same > goal for the blind. In 2006, he teamed up with psychiatrist Richard Baldwin > and wheelchair-bound sailor Paul Walker, who were also involved with BAADS, > to create Genoa Services, which he named after his dog. > Developing it was slow at first, with the trio depending on donated equipment > and a shoestring budget. By 2007, they had created a rudimentary system using > a laptop and a bike helmet with a bulky video camera strapped on top. But > with improvements in technologies like Wi-Fi, the system progressed to > include sunglasses with a webcam embedded inside, and a small Asustek > Computer Inc. netbook. > During a recent demonstration at the LightHouse for the Blind in San > Francisco, a Northern California blind-services organization, a blind woman, > Sandra Abeyta, 46, struggled to hold back tears after she was able to > distinguish between classic yellow mustard and Dijon in the cafeteria > refrigerator using the system. > "Genoa could really improve people's lives," she said. > But not everyone is excited by Mr. Gallagher's invention. Bryan Bashin, chief > executive of San Francisco LightHouse, says the system could prevent blind > people from learning basic, nonvisual survival skills. "This could lead > students down the wrong path," he says. "I fear that they will think having > someone sighted see for you is the only solution to blindness." > Mr. Gallagher remains undeterred by skeptics. He says Genoa Services has > attracted small amounts of cash from investors—and equipment from device > maker Logitech Inc. and its founder Daniel Borel. Mr. Gallagher is applying > for a government stimulus grant. > Meantime, Mr. Gallagher is having fun with his system. Last month, he took > Genoa (the system and the dog) to a San Francisco park for a game of fetch. > He hurled a tennis ball across the park, all the while being guided by his > assistant Isabel Tifft, who was about 15 miles away in Alameda, Calif. > Genoa scurried after the ball but refused to return it to Mr. Gallagher. > (Fetching isn't generally part of guide dog training.) "Where's the ball?" > Mr. Gallagher asked aloud. > Some people standing nearby who thought he was talking to them called out, > "It's to your left, a little further." Mr. Gallagher quickly replied, "I know > where it is." To their astonishment, he quickly picked up the ball. > "They must have thought I was talking to myself or had gone completely > crazy," Mr. Gallagher said, laughing. > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: > http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/nab_friends/ > > <*> Your email settings: > Individual Email | Traditional > > <*> To change settings online go to: > http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/nab_friends/join > (Yahoo! ID required) > > <*> To change settings via email: > [email protected] > [email protected] > > <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > [email protected] > > <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: > http://in.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe.
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