TEAM BLINDSTART
Brian Tom
Meet Brian Tom, “America’s Visionary Speaker” and author whose powerful messages have inspired millions. At the age of 20, while attending UCLA, Brian founded his first company, California Educational Centers, Inc. One year later, he was diagnosed with the eye disease glaucoma, and blindness set in.
Jim Tiao
Jim Tiao has degenerative myopia (progressively worsening near-sightedness) but his vision was correctable with increasingly stronger glasses/contacts over the years. Around 2007, his vision began to worsen, he is now legally blind and adapting to his continuing vision loss by practicing the “7 Habits”...
Denise Lopez
As a professional Sign Language interpreter, it was only natural for me to help facilitate communication between the VIP (blind) and Deaf paddlers. We have all learned to get along despite our differences. It has been an awesome experience just watching my team-mates grow and work together as a team.
Jeff Liu
Jeff Liu is deaf and actively involved in water sports. Jeff has participated in paddling dragon boat for 4 years. The first two years, he participated with the Deaf Dawn team before joining with the BlindStart team.