Abdullah Nikzad is a typical America 18 year old male. He loves cars and he’s a whiz at auto repair. This wouldn’t seem so remarkable except he is blind.

His family owns an auto repair business, so Nikzad learned from the best–his father. At 8 years old, his father slowly showed him the ins and outs of car engines. Since then he’s been able to diagnose car trouble better than those who can see what’s going on.

Nikzad can hear things that his sighted classmates cannot. Whenever someone takes him for a drive, he listens in and can tell what’s going wrong just by the different sounds the car emits. He can move around the inside of a car engine as if he sees every inch of it. He’s known as the one to go to when you need tips. His ability has earned him praise from teachers and classmates alike.

He’s fortunate that he lives in Fremont, California. Fremont has many programs for the visually impaired and schools are well suited to a student with special needs. In the auto repair class he has an assistant who makes sure he doesn’t trip or walk into something dangerous. Beyond that, he works on his own. Once out of the classroom, his cane is his only aid.

Nikzad graduates in June 2006. While he is exploring other fields such as computer technology, his heart is with automobiles.