Blind skateboarder creates 'world-first' adaptive skatepark: 'I've never had a place where I can skate with full confidence'

Blind skateboarder creates 'world-first' adaptive skatepark: 'I've never had a place where I can skate with full confidence'

Blind skateboarder creates 'world-first' adaptive skatepark: 'I've never had a place where I can skate with full confidence' Dan Mancina has been a skateboarder since the age of seven, but when he was 13, he was diagnosed with rhinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease that rendered him almost completely blind by 22. He hit pause on his skateboarding for a couple of years in his early 20s, but decided to pick it back up again, now using a white cane to shred more confidently. Now almost 38, he’s a professional skateboarder, relearning tricks, and even completing the course at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Dan Mancina. Photo courtesy of Keep Pushing Inc/Crowd Digital Marketing Although he’s learned to find his way with tactile markers like cracks in the asphalt and pre-mapped courses, he wants a better experience for fellow visually impaired skaters. About seven years ago, he started dreaming of creating the world’s first adaptive skatepark right in his hometown of D…