Blind man trains to become auctioneer

A blind Fort Wayne man is learning the ropes at the auction block, as he trains to become a professional auctioneer. 37-year-old Chad Beach has been blind all his life. And for most of it, he's loved auctions.

"I've always loved going to auctions and hearing auctioneers," said Beach. "I've always loved numbers, I've always loved speech and voice stuff and fast speech and entertaining and doing all those things."



"He's very smart, very bright," says Dennis Kruse of the Reppert Auction School. As far as he knows, Beach is the school's first blind student. "We had to think, now how would this work? And is this possible? And the more we thought about it, the more we'd chat on the phone, the more we decided this is doable."

Even with his disability, Chad is actually on a level playing field at the auction block. Ring men on the auction floor work as his eyes, while Chad listens and calls the bids.

With news video.