[00:01 – 09:49] Opening Segment

• Let’s welcome our guest for today, Daniel Kish
  • ‘The real-life Batman’
  • President of World Access for the Blind
• Daniel talks a bit about himself
  • Known in part for having trained his brain to see without eyes
  • Lost his eyes to Retinal Cancer as a baby
  • Repurposing the brain
  • The concept of image is just a compilation of sensory data
• Daniel talks about making the most of ‘real estate’ for the brain
  • Forge connections actively
• I mention a video you can see Daniel in action
  • Video link below

[09:50 – 19:27] Borrowing Eyes

• Daniel talks about alternative solutions|
  • Different doctors have different acceptance of different areas
  • Blindness is associated with a lack of mobility
  • Being blind is a challenge but the challenges can be addressed
  • The approaches used to be very ‘sight-centric’
  • Getting access to visual information
• Typically and traditionally people use sighted people to obtain visual information
• There was a problem, but now people have choices about how to approach it
• ‘Use it or Lose it’
• The issues surrounding blindness have produced a marginalization

[19:28 – 26:55] Repurpose the Brain

• Daniel talks about how this work pertains to sighted people
  • This goes beyond just echolocation
  • It’s about repurposing the brain
  • Build more brain connections to creativity and innovation
• 3 things needed to teach the brain something new
  • Motivation
  • Regular Opportunity for Application
  • Challenging circumstances
• Daniel talks about the psychology of what he teaches
  • Mastering your capacity as a person
  • Neutralizing fear
  • Darkness is the construct of the brain
• People assume blindness is simply a lack of eyesight

[26:56 – 35:05] Overcoming the Fear of the Unknown

• Daniel addresses how to overcome this fear
• Are you firstly motivated?
  • Fear leads to curiosity
  • Where are you allocating your energy to?
• Next is learning how to develop a healthy relationship with darkness
  • Challenge your assumptions and rethink what you think you know
• Establish what you DO know
  • These are tools you can use to charge through
• We should be willing to find a new foundation when fear comes

[35:06 – 43:19] The Seed of Creating Community

• Daniel talks about different people who have learned this technique
• Daniel shares how this work looks like in practice
  • Working with a lot of kids with a lot of different stories
• Daniel tells an amazing story of one of his students
  • Teaching a kid to play soccer with sound
  • Creating a community
• Connecting to things bigger than yourself

[43:20 – 52:56] Closing Segment

• How to help and support Daniel on his mission
  • Creating a vision academy with a virtual and outreach component
    –Donate
• What reminded you every day that it’s still an amazing world?
  • Watching people grow into greater freedom – especially children
• I want to add that Daniel is a great public speaker
  • TED Speaker
• How can we find you?
  • See links below
• Final words from me and Daniel