Lawrence Aguirre was born in 1933 in East Los Angeles. He lost his sight when he was twelve years old in a car accident and was sent to the California School for the Blind in Berkeley. He has often said that if he hadn't lost his sight, he would have never escaped the barrio. At the School for the Blind, he learned the fundamentals of being blind in the sighted world. He also learned to wrestle well enough to win four state championships. Later he attended the University of California at Los Angeles, majoring in history and philosophy. After graduating he married and moved to Venice, Californi...