Meta and Lighthouse Guild, a nonprofit that provides care, community and technology to the blind and low-vision community, sponsored a team of eight runners at the Army Ten-Miler in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, Oct. 11. The team included blind U.S. Army veterans Roosevelt Morring, Rob Sanchas and Shawntina Gibson, as well as Lighthouse Guild President and CEO Thomas Panek, who was guided by Meta's Kelly Ingham, the company's vice president of AI wearables and research partnerships.
Each blind runner on the team was given a pair of Oakley Meta Vanguard AI glasses and was also guided by human guides from Achilles International. The race is known to carry on rain or shine, and it was run in heavy rain.
The race also served as a backdrop for Meta's commitment to provide free Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses to every blind veteran in America. More than 130,000 American veterans are legally blind and eligible, and the glasses are designed to help with reading documents, identifying and describing surroundings, navigating environments, completing everyday tasks and accessing information, the company said.
Panek said the veterans defended the country's freedom and should not have to give up any of their own after losing their sight, and that the team showed what independence looks like in action, with glasses describing the world around them and a guide at their side. Lighthouse Guild's job, he said, is to make sure veterans are empowered to use the glasses to their best abilities. Earlier this year he became the first blind person to complete a half marathon wearing Meta AI glasses, at the NYC Half.
Sanchas said that when he lost his vision he knew he could either stop doing the things he loved or find a way to keep moving forward, and that being at the Army Ten-Miler with other veterans using the glasses was incredible. Ingham said technology is only useful if it reaches the people who need it, which is why Meta is donating Meta AI glasses at no cost to blind veterans across the country.
