Summer fun involves firing up the grill, but Chris Peltz, director of Blind Grillin’, has become a grill master, teaching fellow blind grillers locally and posting YouTube videos for those not in the neighborhood.
“By the time I was 16 I was legally blind,” Peltz explains.
“It’s just a basic activity that in the summertime especially people are involved in — going out in the backyard and firing up a grill and cooking their favorite meals. For the blind, that can be a very intimidating thing,” says Peltz.
Peltz says he teaches this class to educate blind people on some different tools and techniques that are available to help them enjoy what many people think of as a simple task.
“We want to give them that confidence and that independence back,” Peltz explains.
After burning himself a few times, he discovered some helpful tools to make grilling safer. First of all, he uses a voice-assisted app called Flame Boss.
“Just with my phone, with the screen reader I can change all of that and it will go to the controller and it will adjust the temperature up and down,” says Peltz.
Peltz also gives techniques on how to prep, and practice rotating things around the grill with a demonstration. His daughter, Sarah, says it’s even useful for people with full vision to be able to relate to what a blind person goes through.
“We had english muffins, lemons, and they’d have blindfolds on. So you would have to adapt to what a blind person would have to do on a daily basis. It affects the families the people around them and their friends, so it’s just affects everybody. It’s really big just to see how these people adapt,” Sarah says.
For Chris, his goal is to help people overcome the dangers that could come with enjoying a staple of summer.
“We want to help with what many people think of as a simple task, being able to do it, and do it independently,” says Peltz.
Blind Grillin’ has a Facebook and YouTube page that has instructional videos and audio for the blind and visually impaired. You can find out more about Blind Grillin’ here.
