[Blindtlk] Walking Straight Without a Shoreline

[Ericka Short]

What do you do if you don't have sun?  I can see some and have no sense of 
direction and can't understand "25 feet ahead" or something really specific 
like that.  Unless I am in a familiar area I'm totally lost and people 
aren't much help giving directions because I can't read street signs at all. 
I carry a cane.  Any advice?  I know I'm limited by my directional 
challenges.  How do people born totally blind understand distance?  I can 
understand general  "not too far or to your left a block don." I've never 
had depth perception and apparently  nobody  explained what longer distances 
are  in a tactile way.  I mentally know a foot is so many inches, but can't 
seem to apply it.  I guess I literally can't imagine outside a "yard" (isn't 
that 36 inches?).

Ericka J. Short