Davide Valacchi, a 28-year-old man from Bologna, Italy, has been blind since the age of 9. Yet, with the help of his friends Michele Giuliano, a 37-year-old professional chef, and Samuele Spriano, a 25-year-old martial arts student and trainee, he was able to plan and implement an intercontinental awareness-raising sport challenge called “I to eye”: a tandem journey across thirteen countries and two continents, from Rome to Beijing.
Why ride fifteen thousand kilometers? To reach and get in touch with blind people from different places to exchange ideas, know what the living conditions of persons with visual disabilities are and demonstrate that their disability is not necessarily an obstacle. Their journey started more than a month ago and it should come to an end in the first half of November 2019. You can follow their adventure on the challenge Facebook (I to EYE) and Instagram (itoeye_prj) pages. The next countries that Davide will visit are: Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and finally China.
The implementation of the “I to eye” project is not just a personal dream come true for our friends, it is also an encouragement for all persons with visual disabilities to believe in their capacity to do what they aim at and a strong message about the inclusive value of sport, and tandem cycling in particular as a blind person with a sighted partner can do it on equal terms with sighted people.