As a blind adventurer, I have been lucky to experience a life of meaning and purpose – of breaking through barriers. After I had safely come down from the summit of Mt. Everest in 2001, becoming the first blind person to reach the highest peak in the world, my team leader told me something that would change the course of my life: “Don’t make Everest the greatest thing you ever do.”

These words stuck with me, and I have spent the last 16 years trying to live up to that challenge: climbing the tallest peak on each continent; kayaking the Grand Canyon; authoring three books; and starting a nonprofit movement, No Barriers.