Before last month, Erik Weihenmayer, 40, had never seen his young daughter.

But through technology once limited to the imagination of science fiction writers, Weihenmayer, born sight-impaired, now catches glimpses of people and things he previously had only been able to touch or hear.

The technology is called BrainPort, and this weekend it will be one of several jaw-dropping devices on display in Miami at the No Barriers Festival, an international gathering of physically limited athletes, wounded soldiers, disabled kids and hopeful parents, and the scientists and doctors who develop the technology that lets them match the able-bodied step for step.

''I can't tell you how amazing and surreal it has been,'' Weihenmayer, of Colorado, says of his BrainPort -- one of just three prototypes in existence. ''This sort of technology is not just ahead of the curve, it's miles ahead of anything we've seen before,'' said Weihenmayer, president of No Barriers USA, which created the festival.

Weihenmayer, who has been completely blind since age 13, is not seeing in high resolution or color, but the images are clear enough to make out words, reach out and pet the dog or see the silhouette of his 8-year-old daughter Emma and engage in simple pleasures like playing tic-tac-toe or rolling a ball back and forth with her.

Along with the BrainPort, the festival's Innovation Village and symposiums will showcase advanced GPS devices for the blind and ''smart'' prosthetic limbs that read and react to brain signals like real nerve endings -- the latter being the creation of MIT professor and festival co-chair Hugh Herr, who has used them in recent years to resume his rock-climbing hobby. Also on hand: Molly the ''amputee'' pony.

More than the ''wow'' factor, experts say, the technology behind the devices is changing the meaning of ''disabled'' and redefining ``able-bodied.''

'There was a time not that long ago when most people might see someone like me -- a paraplegic in a wheelchair -- and automatically assume `disabled,' '' says Harry Horgan, a sailor and founder of Shake-a-Leg Miami, the nonprofit aquatic and sailing center in Coconut Grove that is hosting No Barriers.

The BrainPort dates to the 1960s, when neuroscientist Paul Bach-y-Rita began working to develop an artificial sight generator. By the time Bach-y-Rita died in November 2006, Wicab -- his Middleton, Wis., company -- had developed the BrainPort.

''One of Paul's favorite expressions . . . was that you don't see with your eyes, you see with your brain,'' says Wicab President Robert Beckman. ``Paul also liked to say that if your eyes or any other sensor are damaged, you can use an alternate sensor, because the brain is not hard-wired.''

A second BrainPort prototype will be given to another test subject next week. When the device is cleared for wider use -- likely in the next few months following presumed FDA approval, Beckman says -- it will cost about $10,000.

For all the hope and buzz the BrainPort may generate, some No Barriers attendees are otherwise preoccupied. ''I'm really looking forward to the hand cycle,'' says Juan Carlos Gil, 27, a sailor and champion hand cyclist who was born with cerebral palsy and has limited use of his legs.

Gil, who volunteers at Shake-A-Leg Miami, is referring to a new type of cycle that with the flip of a switch can stand upright.

That's important, Gil says, because traditional hand cycles have such wide bases they can't fit through doorways and other narrow spaces. ``So you have to rely on other people to carry your cycle outdoors and then help you out and help you into your cycle. This is another step toward independence for us.''

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