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Meet Aira’s Flight for Sight Recipient Ambassadors!

hannah.griffin@aira.ioby Hannah Griffin•Posted June 21, 2024
A promotional graphic with a black and white image of a plane centered in front of clouds in the background. At left white and teal text reads "Aira Community: Meet the Flight for Sight Recipient Ambassadors—Learn about their exciting adventures on three continents." At bottom left is the teal and white Aira logo. At right are five teal right angle triangles stacked in a pattern.

The people who use Aira are an integral part of what makes it so special. Our community is built of people from all different walks of life, undertaking a vast range of activities and goals. We wanted to shine a light on some of these community members, and in this spirit have brought onboard some exciting Aira Ambassadors. 

These include three Flight for Sight Grant recipients! Flight for Sight is an educational non-profit that awards travel grants to individuals who are blind or have low vision to explore the world, engage, and educate. The recipients for 2024 have unique and fascinating trips planned across three continents. 

Read below for more information on these wonderful Aira Ambassadors, and follow Aira on Instagram for the latest updates. Plus, stay tuned for upcoming Aira podcast interviews and blog posts diving deeper into their adventures. 

 

Flight for Sight Grant Winner Ambassadors 

The Lamarra Family

The Lamarra family runs the popular Instagram account Yes_I_Cane, which showcases visually impaired siblings Mina and Brennan sharing their lives and experiences through engaging and often humorous videos. This year the family, which includes mom Parisa and dad Bart, will be traveling to Japan to learn about accessibility in Tokyo and Anjo. Anjo is the sister city of the family’s home town of Huntington Beach, CA, and they will be bringing back recommendations on accessibility for Huntington Beach’s upcoming downtown redesign. 

The white exterior of a house with black window frames. In the foreground on lawn furniture, sit from left to right, Bart Lamarra, Mina Lamarra, Brenna Lamarra, and Parisa Lamarra.
Team Yes I Cane

Grayson Roberts

Grayson just turned 10 and is the founder of Limitless Lemonade, a company he started to raise money to finance his own trips to experience the world. He just got back from walking the Great Wall of China, and is passionate about exploring new places. On his Flight for Sight trip, Grayson and his mom Terica will be traveling to Ghana, Africa, to donate white canes and learn about conditions for blind and vision impaired individuals in a developing country. 

An outdoor scene with palm trees and plastic playground equipment in background. In foreground, Grayson Roberts sits next to two women, one at left wearing a yellow t-shirt. Grayson and the woman at right both wear black and yellow t-shirts with the words "I am limitless" on the front, with a large yellow lemon.
Team Grayson

Ted Tahquechi

Ted lost his vision in a car accident, which forced him to change directions in life. Ted, along with his wife Carrie and guide dog Fauna, will travel the US to photograph famous locations to turn into tactile prints using a new technology he developed with funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation. The project will culminate in an accessible gallery show with traditional and tactile photos side-by-side, along with audio description. Ted operates a popular website called Blind Travels where visually impaired people share travel tips. 

A living room background, with a photograph on the wall of a mountain landscape. A white, blue and grey plaid window curtain hangs at right. On a dark blue couch, Carrie Tahquechi sits on the left wearing a red floral shirt and blue jeans, smiling. Beside her sits Ted Tahquechi, in a navy blue tshirt with a yellow graphic and navy blue shorts, smiling.
Team Tahquechi