Daniel Kish, Co-founder and President of WAFTB, lost his sight as an infant; yet, he grew as a normal child free to enjoy the world and learn by doing. Daniel accomplished this by teaching himself when very young to "see" with sonar by clicking his tongue, which enables identification of spatial relationships using acoustics (hearing) - similar to how a bat uses echolocation. Daniel holds Masters' degrees in Psychology and Special Education, where he emphasized the study of children at risk, perceptual development, and information processing. Being the first totally-blind certified mobility instructor, Daniel lead the establishment of WAFTB in 2000 to share his unique knowledge and perspective to address the significant challenges confronting blind people. WAFTB is the only organization known to focus on developing and implementing comprehensive, innovative approaches to improving the functioning of blind people through enhancing sensory processing in combination with mobility and life skills training.

According to the American Foundation for the Blind nearly 75% of blind people in the U.S. are unemployed, costing the federal government about 4 billion dollars annually (Prevent Blindness America, 1994). Despite many decades of worthy and charitable intentions, rampant unemployment and poor education continue to leave most blind people without the skills and resources to emerge from isolation, poverty, and restriction. WAFTB, established in the year 2000, applies long awaited, high impact approaches of the modern age to open the way for blind children and adults to find freedom in their full potential. We demonstrate compellingly that blind people can achieve the same quality of life as sighted people when they gain the same freedom to access the world as sighted people. WAFTB uses an innovative, No-Limits approach to equalize opportunities for the success of blind people. Under Dan's direction, sensory specialists, engineers, and scientists develop and teach modern approaches to allow blind people to "see" with little or no sight. Our comprehensive approach incorporates the following components:

1. COMMUNITY ACCESS: improving access to community programs and resources including transportation, print, leisure and recreation (such as scouts and senior groups), education, vocation, commerce, and social services.
2. STUDENT FOCUS: working directly with students of all ages, blind and sighted, professional and consumer, through direct instruction and presentations to address blindness education, professional growth, enrichment, skills development, positive attitude building, sensory enhancement (such as sonar), informational counseling, and family dynamics without imposing financial hardship.
3. ACCESS TECHNOLOGY: developing and consulting in development of blindness related technology addressing alternative perception, computer and print reading, location information, and accessible public information, such as talking signs and audible traffic signals to improve access to all aspects of the world.
4. PUBLIC AWARENESS: raising public consciousness about blindness by broad dissemination of compelling information through presentations and publications (such as our informative video "Seeing without Sight") about the full capabilities and access challenges faced by blind people.
5. PARTNERSHIPS: establishing networks and collaborations to mobilize expertise and resources toward developing, evaluating, and distributing critical technology, services, and information.

Our innovative approach to blind living grows from an unwavering belief in ability, not disability - in gain rather than loss. By using sonar enhancement technology called "SoundFlash" and specialized techniques also developed by WAFTB, students use sound to tell what and where things are as if using dim flashes of light. Some students actually describe the experience as if they were "seeing again." We aim to meet more than the minimal requirement for survival. Thus, we infuse our revolutionary approach with a NO LIMITS philosophy - affirming that every person, blind or sighted, can enjoy the freedom and strength of character to seek and discover his own limits and strengths without suffering limits imposed by others.