[blindkid] Cane choices

Mon Mar 28 23:27:22 UTC 2011

Richard,  

My son Michael is now in college and of course uses his long white cane, but
in his backpack as he traverses the campus, he has a telescoping cane.
Don't know the answer to your questions as to the major differences, but I
do know that the telescoping cane or any of the folding canes for him would
be only temporary until he got back to home and next year in the dorm, where
he would have another long cane to use.  So, if temporary, it may not matter
as much which you chose, just so long as you had it with you if needed.

He was going around a corner on campus and a bike came around the corner and
his cane went into the spokes, stopped the bike dead in its track, bike
rider jumped off, not hurt, cane snapped in half.  Michael took out
telescoping cane, made sure the rider was ok, found a trash can, threw his
broken cane away and went on to class.  

Both Joe and I work at the university - we found out about it before the day
was done and before we saw Michael.  Many people have cell phone camera and
thought it unusual enough to capture it in pictures!    But they also saw
someone just continue on as if nothing much had happened (and it truly was
nothing if a second cane is available) - Just thought I would share the
story

Sandy Merchant Taboada

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Richard Holloway
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2011 11:09 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)
Subject: [blindkid] Cane choices

Merry-Noel,

We always go with the standard, straight NFB canes for our daughter, but I
have a question about the mainly about 50/50 canes. 

We need to get a foldable cane at some point to carry as a spare cane,
especially on trips, and also to be able to attach to a bike or toss in a
boat-- things of that nature, (when it would be hard if not impossible to
carry along an NFB straight cane). What is the advantage of a 50/50 over a
typical folding cane?-- (The ones that fold into many short sections?) Both
have the elastic inside. I would assume the 50/50 having just the one joint
would give a little better tactile feedback, but is it enough better to
warrant the relative inconvenience of still being rather long (in the case
of a 50/50)?

I'm thinking a folding cane would be best as a portable/backup cane because
it is so much more compact, but I'd like to know if the 50/50 is a great
deal better than a folding ones as far as tactile feedback, and to see if
that would work better for our application.

Also, where do the telescoping canes fall into the discussion? No elastic,
right? How does the tactile feedback compare? How solid are they once
extended? Are there any other portable solutions I'm overlooking?

There must be a "White Cane Buyer's Guide" somewhere that explains all of
this, but it seems to be hard to find if it exists at all-- I certainly
don't see it on the Consumer Guide's web site, LOL...

Thanks.

On Mar 28, 2011, at 8:15 AM, Merry-Noel Chamberlain wrote:

> T.J.
> I personally don't care for the 50/50 canes because they don't give as
much feedback as a straight cane.  Plus, the elastic band can break that's
inside them.  Why don't you get a free cane through NFB?
>  
> Merry-Noel Chamberlan, NOMCT
> 
> --- On Mon, 3/28/11, T. J. <tjmaries at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> From: T. J. <tjmaries at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [blindkid] I want to order a cane from NFB but have questions
> To: "Blind Kid" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Monday, March 28, 2011, 1:20 AM
> 
> 
> Does anyone know if the NFB 50/50 cane is a good cane to use?  I generally

> prefer 60 inch canes but am thinking 63 is good for the extra length
because I 
> walk fast.  If I am correct the way to write the order # for the cane
would be 
> ACY63F.  Does anyone know if I wrote the number correctly?  And also how
long 
> would it take for a check to get from Oregon to Maryland and vice-versa?
> 
> T. J.
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