[il-talk] Frustrated

Thu Sep 27 16:24:32 UTC 2012

Definitely a suburban story!  And one that breaks blindness stereotypes. 
Burglary isn't exactly a typical employment track.

Debbie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steven Hastalis" <steve.hastalis at gmail.com>
To: "NFB of Illinois Mailing List" <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 9:17 AM
Subject: Re: [il-talk] Frustrated

> Your story about walking, while someone drives along side, reminds me of 
> an encounter which took place during the summer of 1974.  I still lived 
> with my parents in Western Springs then and decided to go to Ravinia one 
> night.
>
> I rode one train downtown and another to Ravinia.  I enjoyed the concert 
> and came home on the same to train lines.
>
> I arrived in Western Springs late at night, possibly very early the next 
> morning, perhaps at a quarter to two or so.  Western Springs uses the 
> Chicago street numbers for north-south.  Therefore, the train station is 
> two blocks north of 47th Street.  As I reached 52nd Street, a car pulled 
> along side, and the driver followed me at walking speed all the way to and 
> up my parents' driveway.  My parents' house had a street address of 5709. 
> I wondered about the driver's motive, given that he followed me that way 
> for about three quarters of a mile, the south half of my walk home from 
> the train station.
>
> I walked up the driveway and was about to enter my house, when a man got 
> out of his car.  He introduced himself, "Western Springs police."
>
> I replied, "What do you want?"
>
> He asked, "What are you doing out here?"
>
> I answered, "I walked home from the train station."
>
> He asked, "Do you have ID."
>
> I replied, "No, I have a house key."
>
> He replied, "I thought you were a prowler."
>
> I answered, "I live here."
>
> Fortunately, he then drove away, and I entered the house.
>
> (At that time, I had graduated from the University of Illinois a year 
> earlier, and its ID therefore had long expired.  It would be about another 
> ten months before I would start working at CTA and would have an Employer 
> ID.  Moreover, the state law establishing the Illinois ID would not exist 
> until 1975.)
>
> This police officer's skepticism probably had at least as much to do with 
> suburban culture as with my blindness.  How many people do you suppose 
> walk a mile and a haf home from the train station, especially during late 
> night to early morning hours, through a community in which the second half 
> of that walk has no sidewalks?
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David Meyer" <datemeyer at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "'NFB of Illinois Mailing List'" <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 4:37 PM
> Subject: Re: [il-talk] Frustrated
>
>
>>I realize that one doesn't always have time to do this but I remember a 
>>time
>> when something similar happened to me.  I was working evenings in a group
>> home for developmentally challenged adults and was on my way to the 
>> train.
>> As I was walking a car pulled along along side of me while I was walking 
>> and
>> hit his horn.  For some reason, I stopped.  A gentleman said quite
>> confidently, "Do you know you are going in entirely the wrong direction?" 
>> I
>> had some time so I decided to have him examine his own question.  I
>> responded that perhaps he might be right, but perhaps I might be right. 
>> I
>> then asked him how it was he thought I might be going in the wrong
>> direction.  He was quite uncomfortable when telling me that I belonged in
>> that big building that was a block or so behind us.  I asked him how it 
>> was
>> I might belong there.  He said that the building was for special people 
>> and
>> that I was a special person and.... I cut him off at that point telling 
>> him
>> that I was familiar with that building, that I was a staff member there,
>> that I was leaving work and that I was on the way to the train.  I then
>> asked him again if I was entirely wrong with the direction I was going.
>> Without saying another word, he drove off.  I'm sure he was 
>> uncomfortable,
>> but I truly felt on top of the world.  It might not have been right of me
>> but I wanted for him to feel for just awhile, the irritation we feel at
>> members of the general public almost daily.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Francisco Chang
>> Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 1:28 PM
>> To: Deborah Kent Stein; NFB of Illinois Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [il-talk] Frustrated
>>
>> As a sighted person I would find it extremely rude if someone grabbed me 
>> me
>> if I seemed lost. It is ridiculous that many sighted people think that it 
>> is
>> all right to grab a blind person because they are trying to help. A 
>> sighted
>> stranger would not like it if a blind person grabbed his/her arm because
>> he/she seemed lost.
>>
>> Francisco Chang, RN, BSN, AACC, CCRN, CVRN, EP Lab, Swedish Covenant
>> Hospital, Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Sep 26, 2012, at 10:43 AM, "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817 at att.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> When they ask me if I know where I'm going, sometimes I say, "Yes - do
>> you?" I love Mary Ellen Gabias' response to people who grab her: "Oh, can 
>> I
>> help you?"
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Patti Chang" <pattichang at att.net>
>>> To: "il-talk il-talk" <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 7:55 AM
>>> Subject: [il-talk] Frustrated
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>> A guy just stopped me along Higgins. He watched me walk at full speed
>> for two blocks and still assumed I was lost.
>>>>
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