You know a bike mechanic’s hands when you see them: grease-lined nail beds, calloused palms, and quick dexterous movements. Mechanic Reza Alizadeh’s hands look just the same as any other bike repairman. What he lacks, however—different from most other mechanics—is his eyesight. Alizadeh has been blind since birth.
He repairs bicycles in a small, dusty shop that serves Meidan e Baar, a poor neighborhood in the Iranian city of Mashhad where the streets are filled with adults and kids on bicycles. Alizadeh relies on his hands and ears to help take care of these people. “When I’m working and a customer comes into the shop, I can hear what he is saying, and where he put the bicycle,” he said. “I feel the bicycle to get a sense of its size, and this helps me diagnose the problem.”
