“I believe in the independence of persons with disabilities.  I will use GPS to demonstrate the value of adapted GPS to members of the blind community, manufacturers, and the general public.”                      

-Mike Hanson

LINKS

MIKE'S BLOG

STAR TRIBUNE ARTICLE

AMERICAN HIKING SOCIETY INTERVIEW

EMAIL MIKE HANSON

My name is Mike Hanson.
I plan to hike the Appalachian Trail solo.
I also Happen to be blind.

Bio

I was born three months premature in 1965 and given pure oxygen.  That destroyed the retinas of both my eyes, resulting in my being totally blind.  I can tell if the sun is shining.  Other than that, I have no sight.

I have a varied educational and work background, including a BA in psychology, an MA in speech-language pathology, and a J.D.  I passed the Minnesota State Bar Exam on my first attempt and am licensed to practice law in Minnesota.

I have worked in human resources for a fortune five hundred company, co-owned a brewing supply business, and practiced law.  That said, I face the problem common to seventy percent of those with my disability (unemployment and underemployment).  I have always wanted to do something to demonstrate the independence of persons with disabilities.  I will have more to say about this later.

I am an avid outdoorsman.  I have hunted, fished, canoed, cross-country skied, hiked and backpacked for over thirty years.  I experienced the thrill of bagging a nine hundred-pound 7-by-6 bull elk in December, 2008.  I was elected president of a Twin Cities based organization that works to make outdoor activities, particularly hunting and fishing accessible to persons with disabilities called Capable Partners, Inc.  Please visit www.capablepartners.org for more information about this fine organization.  I was their first blind hunter.

I am currently working on combining my love of the outdoors and my desire to demonstrate the independence of persons with disabilities by planning a hike of the 2,174-mile Appalachian Trail using GPS.  GPS will give me two pieces of information otherwise unavailable to me.  First, it will tell me where I am.  Second, it will tell me what points of interest are around me.  A white cane will tell me about obstacles and hazards.