[Blindtlk] [BlindTalk] Raising a Cane

Tue Sep 29 02:36:31 UTC 2015

Score! Heather. As I have gotten older this is the MO I am more likely
than not to adopt lately since even folks I know have a case or case
of amnesia when it comes to my abilities. I do the same as Justin.

On 9/28/15, Mark Tardif via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Good way of putting it, too.
>
>
>
> Mark Tardif
> Nuclear arms will not hold you.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Hachey via blindtlk
> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 5:57 PM
> To: 'Blind Talk Mailing List'
> Cc: Bob Hachey
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] [BlindTalk] Raising a Cane
>
> Hi Mark,
> IT is amazing how getting behind the wheel can truly transform some folks
> who seem like fine people into a lower form of life.
> I often put it this way. When many drivers get into the car to drive, they
> turn the a-hole key to the right, to the on position.
> Bob
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mark
> Tardif
> via blindtlk
> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 5:35 PM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Cc: Mark Tardif
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] [BlindTalk] Raising a Cane
>
> Yes, Bob, I think those are good ideas, especially since a lot of drivers
> and even police officers don't even seem to be aware that there are white
> cane laws.  It's so true about drivers, too.  I used to go to church up
> here
> with a woman who has since moved to the southern part of the state.  As
> soon
> as we left church and she got behind the wheel, the name-calling would
> start, calling pedestrians and other drivers "dumb bunnies," and making
> snide nasty comments about Canadian drivers, many of whom do come across
> the
> border to shop here.  I never bothered to remind her that she just came out
> of church and might consider listening to what the priest was saying.  I
> don't mean to inject religion into this, but it just goes to show what
> happens to some people when they get behind the wheel of a vehicle.  They
> become absolutely crazy.
>
>
>
> Mark Tardif
> Nuclear arms will not hold you.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Hachey via blindtlk
> Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 1:25 PM
> To: 'Blind Talk Mailing List'
> Cc: Bob Hachey
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] [BlindTalk] Raising a Cane
>
> Hi Mark,
> I hear you loud and clear. Seems that driving in America is the fourth
> inalienable right, up there with life, liberty and the pursuit of
> happiness.
> While it is we the pedestrians who have been given this right by law in
> theory, in practice, the rights seem to go to the driver, no matter how
> careless or thoughtless that driver may be.
> Perhaps instead of raising a cane to call attention to ourselves we ought
> to
> raise Cain, (note spelling) And, I'm not joking.
> I love the idea of White cane day which is coming soon. But I wish we could
> be more successful at getting not just the usual folks from the Commission
> for the Blind involved, but the registry of motor vehicles, local police,
> etc.
> Bob Hachey
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mark
> Tardif
> via blindtlk
> Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2015 9:28 PM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Cc: Mark Tardif
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Raising a Cane
>
> There is something about some people who, when they get behind the wheel,
> turn into creatures you and I wouldn't recognize.  Joking, but just barely.
>
>
>
> Mark Tardif
> Nuclear arms will not hold you.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Freeman via blindtlk
> Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2015 6:52 PM
> To: 'Blind Talk Mailing List'
> Cc: Mike Freeman
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Raising a Cane
>
> Arrielle:
>
> I don't worry much about getting cars to conform to a certain behavior
> pattern because (and I'm joking here but not altogether) I consider the
> very
> act of getting behind the wheel tantamount to lowering one's IQ by fifty
> percent. Put less acidly, I figure I have little-to-no control over what
> cars do so I try to read their behavior as best I can and feel that the
> position my cane is in (other than aggressively sticking it out right as I
> start to cross) will have little influence on driver behavior.
>
> Mike
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Arielle
> Silverman via blindtlk
> Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2015 2:04 PM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Cc: Arielle Silverman
> 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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-- 
Danielle

Email: singingmywayin at gmail.com