Ross Minor

Minor was born on May 29, 1998.^[1] On June 14, 2006, his father went into his room while he was sleeping and shot him in the head.^[3] As a result, Minor lost all function in his right eye, as well as losing his left eye, rendering him completely blind. Minor's father then did the same to his brother Ryan, before committing suicide. All three were rushed to the hospital, where Minor's father was pronounced dead. Ryan later died from his injuries, while Minor was left blind and without a sense of smell.^[3] After going blind, Minor needed to reintegrate into society and as such, he began the path to learning how to read and write braille, walk with a white cane, use technology, and interact with people in the world around him.^[7]

Since he was attending a private elementary school, he was ineligible for services such as a Teacher for the Visually Impaired (TVI), and an Orientation and Mobility (O&M) instructor offered through CMS, the public school system in Charlotte, North Carolina. The solution that CMS proposed was to bus Ross 45 minutes across the city to a classroom, where he could learn alongside other blind students. In response, Ross’ mother filed a lawsuit^[8] stating that with a child likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder, it would be most beneficial for him to attend a school with which he was most familiar.

In the end, Minor and his mother won the lawsuit, but not before he was forced to transfer to a public school due to the cost of having to pay for a TVI and O&M instructor while the lawsuit was pending. During his time in the education system, Minor quickly discovered the challenges of advocating for himself and to explain what assistance he needed. Many times, teachers would forget to explain what was on the board or exclude him from sight heavy tasks. In other extreme circumstances, teachers would often pair him with other students or completely exempt him from assignments to avoid having to make his materials accessible. It was only the use of technology that allowed Minor to excel and prevented him from falling behind.

After going blind, Ross was initially reluctant to use technology of any kind because of how unfamiliar it was to him, until he attended the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, where he began to observe and understand how technology could really help those with disabilities. Seeing the speed and proficiency at which some of his blind classmates used their computers inspired him to begin learning all he could about accessible technology and this is what prompted him to delve into his computer and iPhone to unlock their potential for him. By the age of 15, Minor was learning how to program and navigate various operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Eventually, Minor found himself teaching other friends about accessible technology, which in turn, ignited his passion for educating the world about accessibility.

Formative mainstream video games for him that he played with audio queues and sighted assistance included Pokémon Ruby and Left 4 Dead 2, though many such games were inaccessible to him. He has a large tattoo of the water Pokémon Gyarados on his right arm.^[9]