[Blindtlk] Raising a Cane

Mon Sep 28 04:29:07 UTC 2015

"unlike you, who is touching a complete stranger without their
permission". Brilliant.
BTW, I had another travel adventure today when a cab driver
misunderstood where I wanted to be let off and dropped me in a
driveway across the street from my house. Through a combination of
traffic and sun cues and a little help from GPS, I was able to get
myself straightened out, but the best part was that nobody bugged me
while I was doing it! Had someone come up wanting to help, I fear they
would have just gotten me more confused, since so many people are
clueless about cardinal directions and even street names.
Arielle

On 9/27/15, Heather Field via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hello Christine,
> I believe you are correct in thinking that the suggested cane raising is not
>
> helpful. I would think that it would look like you were about to step out
> into the street to those driving by. It would show that you were blind but
> it would confuse them since they wouldn't be sure what you were planning to
>
> do. Standing still with a raised cane does not sound like a natural posture
>
> to adopt at curbside. In your shoes I would completely ignore the mobility
> instructors statement.
>
> Regarding the people who grab you unawares and say things, perhaps you might
>
> like to try my approach.
> I usually use a quick come back. For example, to those who put their arm
> around my shoulders or take my arm and say "you're doing a great job", I say
>
> "unlike you, who is touching a complete stranger without their permission."
>
> This usually brings them back to reality and they apologise and leave me in
>
> peace. To those who grasp my arm and ask "Can I help you?", or "How can I
> help you?" I say "You can help me by letting go my arm and by not grabbing
> me unexpectedly please." I have not yet encountered anyone who thinks these
>
> responses are rude, though I probably will one day since their altruism is
> really all about feeling good themselves and they don't like the blind
> person being independent and taking away their "feel good" opportunity for
> the day.
> Hope this is useful.
> Best,
> Heather
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Szostak, Christine via blindtlk
> Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2015 4:30 PM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Cc: Szostak, Christine
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Raising a Cane
>
> Hi All,
>   Much appreciated Arielle, thanks, and very well said:)!
>
> Dr. Christine M. Szostak
> Assistant Professor of Psychology
> Department of Social Sciences
> Shorter University
> Rome, Georgia
> szostak.1 at osu.edu
> cszostak at shorter.edu
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Arielle
> Silverman via blindtlk
> Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2015 5:04 PM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Raising a Cane
>
> Christine does use a cane, the issue is being told to hold the cane up while
>
> waiting to cross the street, as a signal, then putting it down and crossing
>
> with it. As to Mike's comment, How do sighted pedestrians signal that they
> are crossing, without a cane or a turn signal? I assume they use some form
> of body language. I consider extending my cane slightly in front of me to be
>
> an appropriate form of body language. Like Christine I don't see the
> additional value of raising my cane up off the ground. Further, I agree with
>
> what I think she was saying, which is that we want cars to drive normally
> rather than stopping in the intersection or doing other weird things because
>
> we are blind. If they depart from normal car behavior, they give us
> confusing information about whether or not it is safe to cross. Of course if
>
> I am in the middle of crossing I want cars to stop. That goes for any
> pedestrian, blind or sighted.
> Arielle
>
> On 9/27/15, River Linda via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Are you saying you can see well enough to cross the street without
>> using a cane? Or, you just do not want to use it because you are
>> embarrassed to use it and you do not want the attention from people?
>> The cane is for your safety. As you have described holding your cane
>> vertically off the ground in front of you, the cars coming from behind
>> you will not see your cane. I was taught to keep the cane tip on the
>> ground and hold it out diagonally from you so that cars coming from all
>> four directions can see it.
>>
>> As for people grabbing you, you have to tell them how you want to be
>> treated. When people grab me, I tell them to wait and let me show you
>> how to help me. When people make that comment about me being amazing
>> because I can cut my food and eat it, I simply respond with "you, too".
>>
>>
>> On Saturday, September 26, 2015, Szostak, Christine via blindtlk <
>> blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>   Ok, this might be a very odd question, but I was just thinking
>>> about this and to me, it  seems really illogical.
>>>
>>>   When I was getting O&M to help with transitioning to a cane, every
>>> time we stopped at a curb to cross a street, the instructor would
>>> have me hold the cane directly in front of me and hold it up in the
>>> air vertically about
>>> 2-3 or so inches off the ground. The explanation given to me for this
>>> was so that others would see that I am blind and am using a cane.
>>>
>>>   The reasons that this seems a bit odd to me as a good practice are:
>>>
>>> 1)  I do not want a car to stop at a stop sign and wait for me to
>>> cross as I have always been taught not to trust in drivers that say,
>>> go ahead I will wait because they may not see other cars coming that
>>> could hit me if I follow their advice. Also, just because they stop,
>>> it does not mean that they see you so the signal you are assuming
>>> they are giving you, may not be the case.
>>>
>>> 2)  I do not necessarily want to bring attention to my blindness.
>>>
>>> 3)  I tend to look younger than I am and thus people, to my
>>> consternation, always try  to grab my arm... to help me. When I was
>>> in training for one of my prior guides, my instructor always joked
>>> that I was a really touchable person because total strangers would
>>> try to drag me across the street since they just assumed that I did
>>> not know  how to cross a street with a light:). This happens to me,
>>> regardless of whether it is with traffic or even in places like
>>> restaurants, total strangers will frequently grab my arm, put their
>>> arms around my shoulders... and tell me how amazing I am to be eating
>>> so well:). Since I really do not want this type of attention, I tend
>>> not to want  to use methods that are likely to induce it:). Since I
>>> could see holding a cane in the air as one good way to get this type
>>> of attention, I am not overly eager to keep up this practice.
>>>
>>>   Thus, do others here hold up their canes while standing on curbs
>>> and if so, what has been your experience with respect to the above
>>> issues? I really, personally do not like this practice as it would
>>> seem to me that if you are a competent traveler who follows the
>>> rules of the pedestrian and knows what you are doing, then you should
>>> not need to do this as it simply tells someone, this person is blind
>>> so stop and wait for them as they will not be a safe traveler or is
>>> trying to signal that they need your help.
>>> Perhaps I am completely misunderstanding the point of doing this but
>>> I just really feel like this is an out-of-date practice, one that
>>> tries to heavily point out blindness which would seem to lead to
>>> increasing the stigma rather than showing that we are competent
>>> individuals, and something that could actually be dangerous rather
>>> than helpful to a cane traveler.
>>>
>>>
>>>   I can understand this type of practice if you want for some reason
>>> to indicate that you are blind or have a VI (i.e., when  you are
>>> concerned that you may trip... and do not want individuals to just
>>> think that you are
>>> clumsy...) so please know that I am not trying to discount these
>>> types of situations rather it is just on the curb side if you are
>>> just trying to cross the street  and have any of the above three
>>> reasons for not wanting to do so that I am asking about and feeling this
>>>
>>> way about.
>>> Happy weekend all!
>>> Chris
>>>
>>> Dr. Christine M. Szostak
>>> Assistant Professor of Psychology
>>> Department of Social Sciences
>>> Shorter University
>>> Rome, Georgia
>>> szostak.1 at osu.edu <javascript:;><mailto:szostak.1 at osu.edu
>>> <javascript:;>> cszostak at shorter.edu <javascript:;>
>>>
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