[Blindtlk] Walking on city streets with no sidewalks

[Carly Mihalakis]

Good afternoon, Arielle,

God those friggen do-gooders whom come at you, the blind person as 
if, were it not for their help would remain at least, very lost and 
at worse, would be hit or subject to OOl'Sighty's ever sliding and 
wobbling whims.
  In this reality there is no autonomy, don't always feel I need it.
Like, I feel comfortable enough with my position as a totally blind 
32-year-old that I don't mind allowing Ol'Sighty to sort of have his 
way with me,  with his blind babydoll. It's okay.  When I need my 
skills, at such time that I find myself without Ol'Sighty's help  I 
know they are there, but in the mean time I can be your play thing.
Car
   Behalf Of Mike
>Freeman via blindtlk
>Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2015 8:18 AM
>To: Blind Talk Mailing List
>Cc: Mike Freeman
>Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Walking on city streets with no sidewalks
>
>I either ignore the do-gooders or I ask them if they want their taxes raised
>to pay for more sidewalks.
>
>Mike Freeman
>
>
> > On Sep 26, 2015, at 16:09, Arielle Silverman via blindtlk
><blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >
> > Hi all. Just wanted to pick your brains regarding tips for traveling
> > effectively and staying oriented on streets that have no or
> > inconsistent sidewalks. There are some streets in my city that have no
> > sidewalk and are fairly quiet streets but they intersect a busy
> > street. When I attended LCB I got some good practice shorelining
> > gutters on the edge of the road or seams between the road and
> > driveways. But here there are often seams that come and go, or
> > intermittent gravel patches, or rows of parked cars that come and go,
> > making it difficult for me to stay centered. Sometimes the parked cars
> > also make echolocation difficult. How do you stay straight?
> > Another related aggravation is that often do-gooders will freak out if
> > I am walking in the street even though it's my only option given the
> > lack of sidewalk. Especially if I veer a tiny bit away from the edge
> > because of the lack of consistent landmarks, people will get really
> > concerned and keep asking me if I need help or if I need a ride or
> > admonishing me not to be in the street like I'm an errant
> > three-year-old. Even when I know my way, it makes me feel
> > uncomfortable about walking in the street because I feel like I'm
> > bringing all this attention on me and distracting and upsetting others
> > around me. How do you handle such reactions? These are quiet streets,
> > so I don't believe I am actually in danger (and if I hear a car coming
> > I always get as far to the side as I can), but because it's hard for
> > me to keep a straight line, sighted people don't know how to deal with
> > me. What are your thoughts about this?
> > One example: A bus stop I sometimes use is on a tiny patch of sidewalk
> > with grass on one side and a fenced driveway on the other. When I
> > cross the street to get to the stop, it's easy for me to miss the
> > small sidewalk patch and I have to walk up and down the block a little
> > bit (without sidewalk) to find it. I can usually find it fairly
> > quickly, but one time as I was looking for the stop, several people
> > stopped their cars or got out of their cars trying to help me find the
> > stop (and some not even knowing there was a bus stop there) just
> > making everything a big mess. I ended up switching to a further-away
> > bus stop on sidewalk to avoid that problem, but I have to walk through
> > a sidewalk-less block to get there.
> > So, how do you stay oriented, and how do you placate the do-gooders
> > and keep them from becoming a distraction?
> >
> > Best,
> > Arielle
> >
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