We take for granted how delicate our lives as skateboarders are. All professional athletes worry about injury that could threaten their careers, but the rest of us am-drams just assume we’ll be trundling away on our boards for years to come. Life often has other plans. When Daniel Mancina was just 13, he found out he was losing his sight. Retinitis Pigmentosa, a hereditary, degenerative disease, it slowly stripped him his life as he knew it, and with it: skateboarding. To most of us, this is unimaginable. And the idea that you’d be able to continue skateboarding? Out of the question. But with the right support, Dan bounced back. Today, having lost about 95% of his vision, he’s working tirelessly to reinvent skateboarding for him and other visually impaired people. How? Inspirational speeches, Kickstarter campaigns and a fast-growing Instagram platform to start with. But that’s kid’s stuff: Dan’s now building the first skatepark specifically designed for the blind.
Interview by Oisín Tammas
Photography by Jacob Lewkow
Dan, we loved the guest model Real just brought out for you! But was that real Braille?
Yeah, the board’s got raised Braille print – it should be out around the end of 2018.
How long have you been skating for Real?
I have been flow on Real for about six months now, but it’s been my favorite board brand since I was a kid. To be a part of anything they do is a dream come true for me, so I’m so grateful for everything Jim and all the dudes have done for me.
When did you first realise you’d be losing your sight, and how did you cope with that knowledge?
I first found out that I had Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) when I was thirteen. I didn’t really care when I was younger though, I was just busy being a kid and living life.
“No matter what, always let your kids try.”
It’s hereditary, right?
Yes, and so I’ve always had support from my family – and my friends. They never let me use my blindness as an excuse for not doing what everyone has to do in life.They got me through, because I did not actually know others who were visually impaired until a few years after I’d already lost the majority of my sight.
Did you think you would lose skateboarding along with your sight, or did you always have a plan to continue?
I wanted to skate no matter what. When I was younger, even thinking about going blind in the future, didn’t put me off skateboarding. But then, once I lost the majority of my functional sight, I didn’t do much of anything active, let alone skating. I’d barely walk around the block without a human guide. That was definitely a learning curve, and for a couple years I had to just get adjusted to not relying on my sight as much.
From an outsider’s perspective, most of skateboarding looks nearly impossible. But to see somebody do it without sight, that’s unbelievable. How did you change your riding style, your preparation and mindset to be able to keep skating?
Once I’d started skating seriously again, it felt more and more normal. I just focused on how I was landing my tricks, and tried not thinking about being blind or anything. That’s why it feels so good to do it. I obviously had to stop skating like I used, stop trying the tricks I used to do. I just can’t skate like that now. I need to go slower, find obstacles that work for me as a blind skateboarder. It bums me out sometimes, when I think about what I used to be able to do. I have to be careful, even when I get comfortable at my local parks. We all know the feeling of going somewhere where we think we know the layout and run into kids moving stuff around. Imagine being a VI skater. This happens at my parks sometimes, I always have to scan the park for the bike rack before I start skating in case I run into something new.
But you were able to find new ways that worked for you, and gained incredible traction from that…
For sure, seeing the way people view my skating has changed my perspective of skating a lot. It kind of feels bigger than me now – it has more meaning, more power. It allows me to show others who I am in the way I want to be seen: as a skateboarder.
Have you met many others, like you, who are skateboarding in spite of disabilities?
Yeah, but I have noticed everyone handles their disabilities in different ways. Some become advocates, others just simply deal with it. it’s just important to do whatever you need to, to make life as enjoyable as you can.
Do you hope to inspire more skaters with disabilities too?
Yes, but really it comes down to influencing the parents of those kids who are disabled. They can be the biggest barriers. Without an encouraging family and good set of friends, I would not be who I am today. Showing others that kids are kids, whether blind or not, disabled or not. Some kids want to play baseball, some want to play video games, and some want to skate.
What words do you have for those parents?
No matter what, always let your kids try. And, to everybody, support foundations like mine to get more people who are disabled on boards.
Yeah, tell us a bit about Keep Pushing Incorporated.
We’re working towards building a skatepark designed for blind skaters. It came from skating my local parks and talking to other visually impaired skateboarders online. But skateparks are intimidating enough for kids. Imagine being blind and having to navigate a park for the first time. To have a place where I can introduce more visually impaired people to the culture is a step towards creating an even world of skateboarding.
So how might a VI skatepark differ from a regular skatepark?
Utilizing things like speakers within objects, and tactile ground to help orientate people. Once we have the space, the goal will be research the best techniques for adapting the park. What kind of tactile ground is the most responsive? How do we use lighting contrast? Using sound and light within obstacles, plus designing ramps with more margin for error – making them very wide or long, so they’re easier to find – will make it something which is really fun to skate as a VI skateboarder.
“I want to be seen: as a skateboarder.”
Last year you started a GoFundMe page to raise money for a television show where you would inspire others to see the world and their disabilities differently. How’s that going?
It’s in the works, but these days I’m just doing it with a close friend of mine. It comes from the way others treated me differently as a blind person compared to a sighted one. The lower expectations, the pity that others always have for me, it just pissed me off. I’m the same person I was before my disability, but because of other’s perceptions of the blind it took me a while to realise that myself. The show is about normalising blindness and all disabilities.
Where would you like to take your story next, Dan?
I want to skate for as long as I can and really find out how far I can push myself. I feel close to where I want to be on my board, but I really want to see how creative I can be with my spot selection and tricks that I do. I want to stop trying to be such a traditional skater and find a more personal style. Getting the “blind skatepark” is huge on my list as well, since it will attract more blind skaters to a place where we can really push ourselves.
