[blindlaw] Not Just Your Average Cane

[Mark BurningHawk]

I brought up audible cross walks and currency changes not to debate  
them, but to use them as comparisons.  I don't agree with the NFB  
position on those issues either, but that's another topic. :)

I guess what it comes down to is this:  Do you use the cane as a tool  
for better mobility, or do you use a cane to procure a handicap for  
yourself?  The "you" here being generalized.  If you use a cane to  
tell everyone you're blind and need a handicap, then by all means it  
should be white and long and visible, etc.  If not, use what works for  
you.  I realize that in a professional and pressure-laden field like  
law, conformity is often quite useful, and I myself, being a creative  
artist, writer/musician type, tend toward the individualistic  and  
character-expressive end of the spectrum.  I, also having a severe to  
profound hearing loss, might use a white cane precisely because of my  
own arguments--that if I am using a cane, with my hearing loss, I want  
to be recognized and noted for my own protection--because I know how  
horribly I mobilize with a cane--my dog and I do GREAT, and I've often  
considered customizing his harness a bit--with a mini-pack, for  
example, for carrying small things, or whatever.  The harness is also  
eminently practical as a tool, as well.  Still, one of my dogs, when I  
lived in a rougher section of Boston, had a spiked leather collar on  
him as well as his Guiding Eyes choke collar; I was into studs and  
leather myself at the time.

That was my only point.

Mark BurningHawk
Skype and Twitter:  BurningHawk1969
Home:  Http://MarkBurningHawk.net/
Namaste!