Retinal disease blinded Ed Gallagher, 57, of San Francisco, eight years ago.

But now, with a boost from Skype, Gallagher is “seeing” again—and a lot more than that.

With the help of a laptop equipped with a Wi-Fi card, a link to Skype, a webcam mounted on a helmet, and guidance on his headset from a visually able assistant, he is performing amazing feats:

—Sailing on San Francisco Bay, where he is commodore of BAADS, Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors.

—Walking without a cane or his guide dog Genoa for a first time since he went blind.

—Riding a bike.

—Shooting at a firing range and hitting the target.

Gallagher is the subject of a new documentary, Inner Space, featuring Skype. The movie debuts April 12 at Yuri's Night: The World Space Party, a celebration of art and space.

This is the second time in the past week that Skype has played a role in a movie.

Documentary maker Alison Victor said, “Skype and Wi-Fi are radical technologies that are collapsing the boundaries between the able-bodied and disabled worlds.”

Victor met Gallagher while making a documentary on the BAADS group, which emphasizes an approach known as “co-ability,” pairing up disabled sailors with complementary abilities.

For example, Gallagher worked with people who could see but were missing hands and legs.

A year ago, Gallagher started experimenting with technologies that would link him with people who could guide him. He found Skype and got it to work just as a national regatta for the disabled was taking place last Memorial Day.

With the help of an experienced sailor in Warsaw, Poland, with whom he was in contact on Skype, he won his class in the race.

There was no stopping Gallagher then. His next experiment was using Skype while walking without dog or cane. “I wanted to push the envelope with this technology,” he said.

He said walking without the “connection to the concrete” was exhilarating, even more than the sailing was. His friend, Richard “Dr. Dick” Baldwin guided him when he walked out of a restaurant out on the Embarcadero.

“It was extraordinary,” he said. “I felt like I was floating. It was almost like parabolic flight (he previously had ridden in the ‘vomit comet,’ the Zero G simulator used to train astronauts).”

With help from a friend who guided him from his wheelchair in a Starbucks, Gallagher shopped in a local grocery store, where he was able to pick out a sesame bagel, food for Genoa and a birthday card. Well known in the store, he shocked the cashier when he commented on his shirt—guided by his friend at Starbucks.

He checked out his change by holding it up to the camera, “Blind guys get ripped off all the time,” he said.

He also picked out produce at a farmer’s market.

He said Skype could well offer eyes to other blind people.

What’s next?

Gallagher hopes to drive a Ferrari on a course at an old military base and to go sky diving. Or is that Skype diving?

Photo courtesy of co-producer Eric Proedoehl.