Deane Blazie’s earliest feat of engineering might also have been his most dangerous. At only 10 years of age, he strung a 300-foot wire between his parent’s house and a neighbor’s across the road, attaching 100-watt lightbulbs on either end. By manually blinking the hot, precariously-wired bulbs on and off, he and his friends could send each other Morse code messages.  

For all its dangers, the improvised system was Blazie’s first effort at making communication technologies more accessible. Fortunately for the world, it wasn’t his last.

Blazie, who earned a master of science degree in computer engineering from the University of Delaware in 1976, has dedicated his life to inventing and innovating blindness-assistive technology. From the Braille ‘n Speak, an electronic braille notetaker released in the 1980s, to the newly-unveiled B2G, a braille computer that can serve as both a smartphone and a tablet, he’s continually searching for new ways to not only make technology more functional, but to better serve people in need.

“It’s very rewarding to see the reaction of people to a product,” Blazie says, “and to see the success they’re able to achieve in life because of just one device.”

Blazie’s lifelong mission to help the blind community was first sparked in high school, where his participation in a ham radio operators club led to a chance meeting with acclaimed innovator Tim Cranmer. Under Cranmer’s mentorship, Blazie found himself being drawn to engineering and its potential to enrich the lives of individuals with assistive needs.

“He was brilliant, and truly a genius,” Blazie says of Cranmer, who passed away in 2001. “He programmed computers, did woodworking — all while being blind.”

After graduating high school, Blazie continued to help Cranmer develop many assistive technologies, including the Say When liquid level indicator and an audio calculator.

The experience with hands-on inventing, as well as the knowledge and expertise Blazie gained while pursuing a computer engineering education at UD, has culminated in the B2G, a game changer for blindness assistance in the age of smartphones.

Blindness-assistive mobile technology was previously limited to Apple-only products, but the B2G expands that accessibility to the Android-based operating system (OS.) With almost 83 percent of current smart devices using the Android OS, Blazie’s braille smartphone opens up apps and other mobile features to a much wider audience.

“The B2G is just like an Android cell phone or tablet,” Blazie explains. “The difference is it has buttons to push to get to the app [users] are looking for. When the braille indicates they reached the app they want, they can push the button to select it. Then the buttons at the top are a keyboard so they can type an email or do whatever they need to do.”

Ironically, Blazie admits that prior to his graduate degree, computers didn’t really pique his interest. It was only after his experience at UD that he began to recognize the real value of programming.

“When I got out of school, I didn’t want to be stuck behind a desk programming,” he says. “But every time I got a job, I found myself going back to programming to do the engineering.”

The decision ultimately catapulted Blazie into a national spotlight in the engineering world. His graduate thesis, a compiling program for desktop calculators, earned him widespread acclaim, including being named one of the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce’s 10 Outstanding Young Men in America, as well as the opportunity to work with Texas Instruments.  

Despite four decades of engineering and dozens of high-impact inventions, Blazie isn’t slowing down: he now serves on various boards and committees of organizations such as the National Braille Press, the Jernigan National Research and Training Institute, the National Federation of the Blind and Advanced Science and Technology Inc.

Blazie once again credits his former mentor for the go-getter attitude, acknowledging that Cranmer never let his own blindness get in the way of his goals.

“Tim said that persistence is what makes [success] happen,” Blazie adds. “It’s easy to give up. But don’t worry about the mistakes. Learn from them, but don’t let them stop you.”