People magazine named Cockeyed one of the hottest reads of the summer of 2006 and The Boston Globe described it as "an unexpectedly wry view of a life that twisted into the extraordinary." Known for his wit and peculiar perspective, Ryan Knighton is an acclaimed journalist. He has written about popular culture, politics, education and disability for a variety of publications, including The New York Times, Salon.com, The Utne Reader and The Globe and Mail in Canada.

As Slow As Possible, a documentary that follows Knighton on an unorthodox road trip, will be released next year. The film captures Knighton—who has about 1% of his vision left, and is awaiting the moment when he will lose it all—as he travels to Germany to hear a single musical note change on an organ that, to this day, continues to play the longest, slowest song in history. The film shows his engaging talents as a speaker and storyteller and his belief that some of the profoundest lessons can be found in the most minor of occasions.

Knighton is also a faculty member in the English Department at Capilano College in British Columbia, where he teaches literature and writing, both creative and destructive. He also collects tattoos and hopes they resemble what he imagines.

Ryan Knighton will make you forget any stereotype you may have of the "disabled motivational speaker." He's not a mountain climber, rodeo rider, long-distance swimmer or hang-glider. He's a creative writing teacher. And it is that gift for storytelling, drama and clarity of communication that makes his speeches so compelling, entertaining and uplifting. In his talks he shares the story of his progressive and irreversible descent into blindness. His story is one that engages both the hearts and the minds of his listeners, allowing them to laugh at the seeming frailty and unpredictability of the human condition, while at the same time offering a message of hope, courage, and a first-hand account of the extraordinary power of curiosity and humour in surviving, succeeding, and traveling beyond our own expectations.