[blindkid] Modified NFB cane

Steve Jacobson steve.jacobson at visi.com
Mon Oct 4 13:23:20 UTC 2010


This might work but you may find you have to replace the balls fairly often.  Another thing that might work is to add a counterweight on the very top of the cane 
which will, in effect, lighten the tip end by counterbalancing it.  I have seen canes that do this and it can work.  The weight would have to be at the very top to 
be on the other side of his hand from the tip.  Short of this, when he is traveling through a particularly difficult surface, sliding his hand down the cane a little will 
in effect do the same thing.  The drawback of doing this is that the effective length of the cane is shorter, but might be all right if he slows down.  I remember 
this being a frustration for me when I started using a cane, but over time one learns to tap more lightly.  

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Mon, 4 Oct 2010 12:29:41 +0000, Marie wrote:

>Jack keeps having issues with essentially not using his cane on surfaces with lots of cracks and grooves particularly grassy areas. I wrote to the list about 
trying a different kind of tip. We were saddened to realize that we could not just try a tip and would have to get a whole different kind of cane. We decided to 
stick with the NFB cane we knew to be reliable and sturdy. Then yesterday I had a little brainstorm. We don't want to add extra weight to the tip just something 
to make it smoother to navigate cracks, bumps, and grooves. BUT we did not want to lose feedback either. My husband cut a small slit in one of those thin 
plastic ball pool balls. You know, the kind you buy in a bag a hundred at a time? We push the metal tip through the slit. Jack did a bit better keeping his tip on 
the ground and less up in the air. We'll see how this works. If it doesn't work, it has cost us um, let's see....nothing because we already had the balls.

>Marie (mother of Jack born May 2005)
>See glimpses of life with my determined son who is developing in his own way at his own time at http://allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com 
>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry







More information about the BlindKid mailing list