[blindlaw] Refusal To Use A Cane

[John Sheehan]

Please don't think of this as abuse (Hehehe) but you have to remember that there are a LOT of laws designed to "protect" people - that a pedestrian in a crosswalk has the right of way, that people in wheelchairs get special treatment on public transportation systems, that older folks (in which group I belong) get discounts. I don't think any of these - including ADA provisions - somehow belittle the individuals being protected. I'm sighted - but when I go out with my sleep shades and white cane, I still have people who bump into me and knock me down, despite the obvious signs I can't see. The cane is a notice to others to be careful, as well as a crucial tool for getting around. I use a senior discount card, and have, at times, asked a young person to get up from a seat designated for seniors so I or someone else could sit. In a perfect world, people would take care of and be conscious of one another. It's not a perfect world, so we have laws. And invoke
 them when we need to. 
 
Fr. John R. Sheehan, SJ
Chairman
Xavier Society for the Blind
Web Site: www.xaviersocietyfortheblind.org
154 E. 23rd St
NYC 10010
212 473-7800, ext 119

Help us raise money for the Xavier Society for the Blind just by searching the Internet or shopping online with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo! Free for you - and money for us! Thank you.
Residence:
53 E 83rd St
New York, NY 10028

Room Phone: 212 606-3423 (Note the new phone #) 
Cell: 646 853-1820
Blog: www.frjohnsj.blogspot.com



________________________________
 From: Mark BurningHawk <stone_troll at sbcglobal.net>
To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> 
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2012 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Refusal To Use A Cane
 
While I don't think this list is the place to start a spirited debate on canes, I agree with you that a different color cane use is problematic in terms of socialization or integration into the existing system.  My own personal stance on it, which I will never attain, due to physical limitations like profound hearing loss, but my own stance on it is that a blind person should develop skills that are so precise and exact that "laws," of any kind, "protecting," the blind person from the rest of the world would not be necessary.  I'm a little shocked in fact that the NFB would support a body of law put in place specifically to force accessibility upon the world, specifically for white cane users (a subset of the blind population), rather than encourage members to develop other options that don't require sighted people obey special laws about them. *shrug* oh the abuse I am now going to get.../

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


_______________________________________________
blindlaw mailing list
blindlaw at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for blindlaw:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/johnrsheehan%40yahoo.com