Feb 8, 2023-- "After an encounter on campus with a fellow blind student who had just returned from a solo excursion with seeming ease, Zachary Shore had a moment of awakening: "My problem wasn't my blindness. It was my lack of skills and confidence." He would indeed come to find a remarkable set of skills and confidence -- eventually earning a doctorate from Oxford University, becoming a distinguished scholar of international conflict and an author of six books, and traveling to more than 30 countries, many of them as solo journeys. Zach credits his strong sense of self to the nurturance of his parents. But his ability to move freely about the world came through a rigorous and demanding training program at the Louisiana Center for the Blind (LCB) -- where he made his way after his moment of awakening in college -- whose requirements for graduation would challenge even the best of sighted students. Shop, prepare, and cook a meal for 40 people, all by yourself, and dont forget the entire cleanup. Accomplish a "drop route"; that is, find your way back to the LCB after being dropped in an unfamiliar location, without asking anyone, using only environmental clues like the direction of the sun. And take a solo trip to a city you've never visited before, with an assigned checklist of to-dos." Learn more about his fascinating journey. (1662 reads)