The Blind Climber Who "Sees" with His Tongue
Erik Weihenmayer's BrainPort translates images into electrical signals.
From: Discover Magazine - 06/23/2008

A wiry man in his late 30s hangs near the top of a 40-foot wall, the toes of
his climbing shoes barely gripping the sheer face. He clings with his left
hand and pauses, swinging his right arm to the side, loosening the muscles.
Then he raises his head and lunges, thrusting his right hand above him and
catching a rock hold with his fingertips. With a few more moves he arrives at
the top. Under normal circumstances this extreme rock climber would be worth
watching. But what makes his effort even more remarkable is that he happens
to be blind. Born with retinoschisis, a rare disease akin to macular
degeneration, Erik Weihenmayer was sightless by age 13. Even so, he continued
to pursue his dream of mountaineering, and he succeeded: In 2001 he became
the first - and to date the only - blind climber to summit Mount Everest.
Today he is climbing with the aid of a tool that allows him to "see" in a new
way - with his tongue. 

Read the entire article at:
http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jul/23-the-blind-climber-who-sees-through-his-tongue/

Links:

BrainPort
http://www.wicab.us/research/vision/vision.html

Paul Bach-y-Rita
http://www.engr.wisc.edu/bme/faculty/bachy-rita_paul.html

National Eye Institute
http://www.nei.nih.gov/

Rich Hogle
http://www.wicab.us/about/principals/rich.html

Erik Weihenmayer
http://www.touchthetop.com/
http://www.k2news.com/erik.htm

Blind Climbers Scale Andes Peak
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=2185199

Erik Weihenmayer's Blind Approach
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/climbing/news/erik-weihenmayer.html

Interview with Erik Weihenmayer
http://climb.mountainzone.com/2002/story/weihenmayer/html/weihenmayer.html

Blind Everest hero leads expedition Down Under
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/08/2158209.htm