Courtesy of Red Bull Media Service Team
Inspirational Mancina uses cane to judge right take-off place.
Dan Mancina cannot visually make out a ledge or ramp, but that didn’t stop him from tackling them in 2018 on a skateboard in Detroit.
Here is all you need to know:
– He was just 13 when a routine eye check-up saw him diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease, Retinitis Pigmentosa, which has robbed him of 95% of his vision.
– Recording clips of him doing things blind people shouldn’t be able to – a darts bullseye, a mini golf hole-in-one and some skateboarding – went viral and he never looked back as he returned to his childhood love.
– The American has just 5% vision but, with the use of a cane to judge his take-off, he has continued to perform some of the tricks he revelled in before losing his sight.
– He revealed: “Now, skating is more scary and more demanding. I’m not thinking about being blind, but how am I going to do this and make it happen. Everything else fades away and it’s the best feeling you can have. I may have lost my sight but through skateboarding I’ve gained a vision and I want to share that with the world.”
– The inspirational Michigan native can now effectively only see perception, shadows and contrast but has his heart set on building a skatepark for blind people.