[Blindtlk] [BlindTalk] Raising a Cane

Thu Sep 1 01:44:53 UTC 2016

Every day is white cane day!At 05:29 PM 10/2/2015, Ericka via blindtlk wrote:
>Hi Bob and all
>
>I love your idea of getting the DMV, police etc. involved. I just 
>spoke to the aging and disability resource center today to inquire 
>whether they were doing anything community education about White 
>cane day coming up. When the lady at the desk gave me the Hem and 
>haw over answering my question I figured the answer was no. She did 
>give me the name of someone who does a lot of the community events. 
>I love the notice for this Paula person and she did call me right 
>back this afternoon. Unfortunately I was already at my next stop, 
>the grocery store and missed the call. So we'll see how things go on 
>Monday. We are having a fun and fit fair for people with 
>disabilities coming up. Maybe this can be incorporated somehow 
>although it's last minute. After all, walking in your community is 
>not just independence and getting your mines done; it's also keeping 
>yourself healthy and fit too. Many times doctors tell you to walk to 
>lose weight etc. We can still hear the birds and the rustle of trees 
>so there's benefit and it relates.
>
>Ericka Short
>"Friends are like flowers in the garden of life"
>
>Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Sep 28, 2015, at 12:25 PM, Bob Hachey via blindtlk 
> <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >
> > 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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