How in the world does a blind man know when and where to duck dive? What’s his trick? He listens. Just like with everything else he does day-to-day.
Casey Neistat, one of YouTube’s most popular vloggers, is fascinated with how Pete Gustin manages to take on things like surfing, skating, and even how he pulls off day-to-day tasks at home as a professional voice-over artist. He was fascinated enough, in fact, to jump on a flight from New York City to California to meet The Blind Surfer…and because he wanted an excuse to go surf.
While hanging out for the day, Gustin shares the story of what actually made his YouTube channel really take off. After a long, grueling road of crafting inspirational stories about refusing to let blindness keep him from enjoying life and learning new and challenging things, it was common Karen-esque bickering that went viral for Pete. That’s right, Pete was at the gym one day when a woman got angry with him for…staring at her. After he explained to her that he’s actually blind and wasn’t staring at all, he’s just, you know, blind, she stormed off to get a gym manager. Pete showed the manager an ID card for the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. The response? “Yeah, but you just can’t make gym members uncomfortable by staring at them.”
Well, Pete shared that 60-second story on his channel and it now has more than 43 million views.
Editor’s Note: Pete Gustin will be joining us this Saturday, September 17, at EVOLVE 2022 in Encinitas, Calif. as a member of our Social Impact panel, celebrating individuals making an impact in surf and outdoors culture. You can learn more about this year’s event and our lineup of speakers, including Selema Masekela and the World Premeire of GEN UP: CAITY, starring Caity Simmers.
Limited tickets are still available here.
