The Eagle Path of blind triplets who needed a Dad

[RememberSchiff]

http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/life/empowerment/2017/09/20/blind-man-gives-blind-triplets-new-shot-life/682584001/

They were in Boy Scouts since they were 12, I wanted them to learn how to build their own support system. My goal has been to empower them to grow. I did not want their success to be based on what I did for them.

They never seek exceptions to the rule. These boys have shot rifles by themselves, they drove three-wheelers at the Jersey Shore on the dunes. I just want them to be the best people they can be.

True character building.

Edited April 29, 2020 by RememberSchiff
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[SSScout]

Super story.  Maybe I'm blind, too, but I can't see where these folks are.  It says their adoptive dad works in Washington DC, but the rest of the paper seems to be in Louisiana ??

[RememberSchiff]

@@SSScout , my read is that Mr. Cantos travels to meet them, which may be Boston next.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4loaeWM7zw

They also joined the Boy Scouts. Troop leaders did not say no when the boys wanted to cut wood with an ax, build a fire, or shoot an arrow like the other kids instead, they found a work-around. At scout camp in the summer of 2014, they each built a shelter and slept in the woods for their wilderness survival badges.

They got to shoot guns, too, each boy squeezing the trigger while someone else held the Glock. Said Nathan Graham, then leader of the church that sponsors the troop, who has since passed away: You should have seen the looks on the faces of the employees of the shooting range when we brought Nick, Leo, Ollie, and Steven out.

Allowing a scout to shoot a handgun? I like this guy,

I suspect Eagle will be just the beginning of their accomplishments with a father such as Mr. Cantos.

Highly recommended reading. Mr. Cantos in his own words discusses suddenly becoming a Dad to Leo, Nick, Esteban.

https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr36/1/fr360114.htm

https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/09/07/meet-amazing-blind-man-raising-blind-triplets-2/

His FB page

https://www.facebook.com/ollie.cantos

Edited April 29, 2020 by RememberSchiff
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[RememberSchiff]

Update: Blind Eagle Scout triplets wear Aira glasses allowing them to see through other's eyes.

As Nick Cantos slid on a sleek pair of glasses, a voice spoke out to him through his iPhone.

I see the George Mason statue, a woman voice said. It looks like a bronze statue, standing tall, with a scroll in his left hand.

Nearby, Nicks brothers, Leo and Steven, were also busy putting on their glasses, making adjustments here and there.

The three of them, aged 18, are triplets from Arlington, Virginia, who are completely blind. And the glasses they have on are no ordinary spectacles. They are glasses from Aira, a San Diego-based company that has developed smart glasses to help the blind and visually impaired with everyday tasks. The glasses are equipped with a camera, which feeds a video stream to a remote agent who then narrates what they see in real time over the phone for the user.

The woman speaking to Nick was Erin Cater, one of Aira network of about 100 agents across the United States. From about 2,700 miles away in San Diego, she served as Nicks eyes, describing for him everything that came within the camera field of vision.

It is like an audio description of life, Nick said.

...

On a recent warm fall morning, Nick, Leo, and Steven took a tour of George Mason University with their father, Ollie Cantos, and the university assistant director of admissions, Lauren Wagner.

The brothers, who were born blind, last month became the first blind triplets to make the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America.

For now, they got a taste of the college campus experience in all its sensory glory. They smelled the autumn leaves, heard the leaf blowers in the distance, felt the energizing bustle of students. And with the Aira glasses, they experienced a slice of daily life at a level of detail that they never had before.

...

Suman Kanuganti was playing around with a pair of Google Glass in 2013 when an idea hit him: What if his friend Matt Brock, who had lost his vision several years before, could put these glasses on, stream video captured through its built-in camera, and use it to see with the help of a seeing person - himself?

Kanuganti dove in, experimenting with the technology. He co-founded Aira in January 2015, began large-scale trials in mid-2016, and officially launched the service in April.

Aira has hundreds of users, said Kanuganti, 37, who also serves as the company chief executive. The service works on a subscription model, with a basic plan costing $89 per month for 100 minutes with a trained agent. The agents, who are mostly contractors, work on an on-demand model like that of Uber, logging on to take user calls and being paid for the hours that they work.

They have to learn how to think like eyes, not brains, said Kanuganti.

The magic in all of this is in the simplicity of the solution, he added: A missing sensory input, sight, is replaced with someone else - the agent.

They become one, Kanuganti said.

He shared stories of how the glasses have helped a mother read bedtime stories to her child every night; a user who wanted to assemble Ikea furniture; and a woman who went grocery shopping.

She literally cried when she picked out her own produce, he said.

Chris Danielsen, the director of public relations for the National Federation of the Blind, which is an investor in Aira, said that the new glasses have the potential to enhance the lives of blind people and to increase their independence, but added that it  is important to be realistic in our expectations of how the new technology will address challenges faced by the blind community.

We are very cautious with saying that technology like this is going to transform peoples lives, said Danielsen. But what it does is it provides another layer of information to which we did not have easy access before.â€

more here

http://www.houmatoday.com/zz/shareable/20171116/surprisingly-simple-technology-is-helping-these-blind-eagle-scouts-see-through-other-peoples-eyes

Edited April 29, 2020 by RememberSchiff
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[RememberSchiff]

Update: