[Blind-Rollers] New member

Sat Oct 2 20:01:29 UTC 2021

Good afternoon Mary, Becky and everyone else.  hi Mary, I am an orientation and mobility instructor. I’m also blind and a full-time cane user. 

I just had an email from one of my favorite preachers that I couldn’t read with my screen reader. It reminds me that the world thinks that blindness is such a tragedy, that their expectations are too low to bother including us in their fundraising drives.  Well I guess he doesn’t get any money from me.
Just like blindness, people feel the same way about other disabilities. Even though I can walk, I have trained Many  blind wheelchair users in many types of vehicles.  So often, people view a wheelchair as a last resort. Frankly, I think a wheelchair makes some people much more mobile than they are without one.  With a wheelchair, you can use a white cane in one hand and propel your chair with the other. You don’t have to balance or worry about accidentally pushing your walker off of a curb or flight of steps. You don’t have to worry about setting your support cane down on uneven surfaces and getting hurt.  if you are using a support cane or walker because of your balance and your inability to stabilize yourself the way everybody else does,  you might actually get out of the house and travel under your own steam if you switch to a wheelchair.  I wouldn’t say that for someone with temporary balance, feet, leg, disabilities but if this is a lifelong condition that you have developed and don’t feel you’re likely to return to A regular stride or balance, think about it.  It is a hard decision to make if you believe that wheelchair users are somehow inferior and that using a wheelchair makes you look inferior. If you think of a wheelchair as another mobility aide such as a white cane, eyeglasses, false teeth, or other tool to let you get on with your life, it will be easier. Yes, the wheelchair is much more difficult to learn when you are blind than eyeglasses and false teeth.  don’t underestimate false teeth. They can be a real pain in the…. Hearing aids are also difficult to use at first. Especially if you’ve had hearing loss for a long time and you start hearing sounds you have not been forced to here in sometime. The sound of a refrigerator can drive you crazy.  But we get used to these things every day.  Some people consider it a normal part of aging to get used to hearing aids, eyeglasses, false teeth and so on.  when I go through security at the airport I tell the agent, this cane is my eyeglasses. You can take it from me if you give me your eyeglasses.  
As we change and grow in our lives, we need to think of all the changes just like we do our blindness. We have to advocate to obtain of assistance finding something in a grocery store. We also have to advocate if we cannot hear the clerk very well. Why not advocate for other disabilities? Why not treat them like blindness. Once we have embraced our blindness, can’t we use the same philosophical approach to osteoporosis? I have certainly used it with menopause.  Sometimes I have to advocate because I’m having a hot flash.
I have a driver at work who has trouble with his circulation in his legs. His feet get cold. I’m in the middle of a hot flash and he wants to turn the heat on. We came to a compromise. We roll the windows down so I can have a breeze and he turns the heater on down around the floorboards for his circulation. We had to advocate for our different disabilities because he had no clue about menopause and I have no clue about circulation.  People with disabilities can work together if they try.
Mary I hope that if you do choose a wheelchair, you will look for instruction in orientation and mobility. Most of the time this means a professional but if you have a good keen user in your area who is also using a wheelchair, more than likely if they are a good traveler and getting out in the world they will be able to show you the tips and tricks.  Sometimes it is better to have a blind person with a lot of experience who is not a certified professional than it is to have the wrong sort of certified professional.    you want someone who believes that you can achieve your goals regardless of blindness or balance or raging neuropathy.  Also, stick with this group. There are a lot of White cane wielding wheelchair users here to help you.  
if you want to stay up on the walker, it will be hard work but it’s still possible. You need to put the cane out in front of you, clearing your path with it, then push the walker forward while you try not to put so much weight on it. Once your walker is forward and stabilized, meaning it isn’t falling off of a curb, you can lean on it and step forward.  Try very hard not to move your walker while you are putting all of your weight on it. You may struggle with neuropathy and knowing if you are balanced but if you can hold the walker and move it with your fingertips, you will be able to pull it back should you accidentally push it off of a curb.  Clearing with the cane helps and it also will help you keep it out of the grass if you’re on the sidewalk.   you want to sweep as wide as the walker and then just a few inches wider so you can find your edges.  It is very slow at first but if you practiced this, sweep, push, step, eventually just like anything else, you will get faster.  The goal is to be as fast with your walker and a safe with it as a person when eyesight.  The neuropathy is going to keep you from going very fast anyway but the cane will keep you from going slower than you absolutely must.

Hang in there and welcome aboard,

Jane Lansaw NOMC 
Tulsa Oklahoma

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 2, 2021, at 2:07 PM, Becky Frankeberger via Blind-Rollers <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Melanie, welcome. I am Becky from Washington State. Broke my back several
> times and now use a manual wheelchair. Perhaps the better idea if you must
> use a walker, is a mini guide or any of the vibrating devices out there that
> will show you obsticles early. Your front of the walker will show you
> inclines and steps. Just make sure you are balanced on the back wheels of
> the walker. Perhaps if you don't like the balancing on the back wheels a
> frame can be built out of PVC plastic pipe with two wheels a foot or two
> ahead of you. You could also use your IPhone and have IRA (spelled wrong) so
> a sighted helper could help you avoid obsticles. People are doing this in
> airports I hear and in some larger  retail stores. Others are using this
> service for short walks on the street. Or join me in the wheelchair. The
> cane is in my right hand. My left is propelling the wheel. My feet keep the
> chair straight.
> 
> Hey let's brain storm with this fine lady gang, smile.
> 
> Becky in her Joy Wheels     
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blind-Rollers <blind-rollers-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Melanie
> Torrance via Blind-Rollers
> Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2021 9:24 AM
> To: Blind-Rollers at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Melanie Torrance <melanietorrance at icloud.com>
> Subject: [Blind-Rollers] New member
> 
> Hello-I am new to this group and wanted to introduce myself. My name is
> Melanie and I am a blind diabetic. I have to use a walker due to peripheral
> neuropathy of both feet. The walker aids with my balance. I have some vision
> remaining and can do ok in familiar surroundings. My problem is bright
> sunshine or at night. This is when I could really use a cane! I was cane
> trained before my neuropathy progressed. Any tips or advice would be most
> appreciated. Thanks in advance!
> Melanie
> 
> Sent from Melanie's i phone
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