Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 December 1897 — Blind People and the Bicycle. [ARTICLE]

Blind People and the Bicycle.

“Not many persons, I fancy, are awrare that blind people are able to cycle,” 6aid a London bicycle manufacturer. “I know of several Wind persons, however, who, since the craze set it, have taken lessons and learned to ride—surprisingly well, too. But tt’s less astonishing than you think, remembering how acute the other senses of the blind become, and that many ordinary cyclists can ride blindfolded for short distances. We have built seven machines for blind customers this year, constructing them specially low, for easier mounting. I know a blind gentleman who travels for a provincial cycle firm, and rides a tandem. He is accompanied by a friend who can see, but quite often he rides on the front seat and steers himself by his friend’s Instructions. Another blind gentleman, a customer of mine, thinks nothing of a thirty miles’ run.”