[nabs-l] cane travel trip 2

Fri Jun 12 20:17:05 UTC 2009

Hi Jim and all,

If you drag your cane along the ground rather than tapping it (also
known as "constant contact") it's a bit easier to feel the contrast
between concrete and asphalt. It's also much easier to detect this
contrast with an NFB fiberglass or carbon fiber cane (and a rigid cane
will give you maximum sensitivity). At the NFB training centers, they
teach you how to walk safely in the gutter between the curb and street
by following the curb with your cane ("shorelining") and making sure
not to get more than a step or so away from the curb. Many streets
also have a "crown" or a ridge between the gutter and street that your
cane will stick on. Once you cross the crown, you're in trouble, but
as long as you stay on the curb site of the crown, you're safe. Making
sure you can feel the curb with your cane with each step will prevent
you from wandering to the opposite side of the street (which, believe
me, I made that mistake more than once in Louisiana!)

As for landmarks, as others have mentioned, anything you can hear,
smell or feel with your cane is a landmark—inclines, texture changes
like cobblestones on the sidewalk, echo changes (going from a covered
to an open area or vice versa), loud air conditioners, construction,
fountains, etc. are all helpful as long as they’re consistently in the
same place. If nothing else, you can always count driveways or
sidewalks between, say, your house and the closest street corner. My
boyfriend’s apartment building isn’t really distinctive from the
others at all, but I always knew how to find it once I discovered that
it was the second sidewalk after the fourth driveway I crossed once I
turn on his street—and the sidewalk slopes up, so if I space out and
turn in at the first one instead, I’ll know right away that I’m on the
wrong track. If you have a busy street that intersects the street you
live on, use that as a landmark—if you were walking toward it at the
beginning of your trip, you should be walking away from it on your way
back, etc.

Best of luck and keep exploring!
Arielle

On 6/13/09, Ashley  Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Jim,
> For orientation, a few more comments on landmarks.
> Something like the slope of the ground  is a landmark.
> With practice you might feel the difference in texture from concrete to
> asphalt to indicate its a street.
> Landmarks can also be  objects like poles or mail boxes.
> Scents help too.  Maybe there's the smell of certain flowers near your home.
> Everyone suggests compass directions.  You can try that.  But that didn't
> help me too much unless I was walking east or west during the daytime on a
> sunny day.
> Cardinal directions were just hard to understand.
> After high school I had an O M instructor come to my house to pick me up and
> practice mobility and get oriented to campus prior to the semester
> begginning.  After all in school I wanted to focus on academics not
> orientation.  Anyway, she talked about compass directions.  She also talked
> about landmarks and listening to traffic for orientation.  She was not in
> NFB using structured discovery officially but she was excellent I thought.
> I just say this to show that a non NFB instructor can have positive
> attitudes and use concepts similar to those NFB instructors have.
>
> Ashley
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Reed" <jim275_2 at yahoo.com>
> To: "MAB List" <mt-blind at nfbnet.org>; "NABS mail list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 3:15 AM
> Subject: [nabs-l] cane travel trip 2
>
>
> Hey all,
> The mobility part is easy, its the orientation part that is going to be hard
> to master. I decided to wear my sunglasses at night to make it more
> challenging, I think sunglasses are a good compramize to sleepshades at
> night, at least for now while Im trying to learn the basics. With the
> sunglasses on, I got turned around once, and then overshot my house by two
> blocks. When I got lost I took off my sunglasses and was able to find my
> way. I'm still trying to figure out how I got turned around the first time.
> I ended up heading west when I wanted to go east. I realized my mistake when
> I was walking past my gym in the wrong direction. If I hadn't passed the
> gym, I'd be one county over by now. Oh, by the way, large parking lots are a
> pain as well. As are streets without sidewalks. and very large sidewalks.
> and wheel chair accessable curbs that allow you to breeze into the street
> without knowing your in the street until you run into the curb on the other
>  side (I was on quiet residential streets with no traffic at midnight, I was
> safe).
>
> I did get nervous when I heard some people somewhere near me; a cane make
> you an awfully big target. I'm a big guy, its not often I feel vulnerable.
>
> Thanks,
> Jim
>
> "From compromise and things half done,
> Keep me with stern and stubborn pride,
> And when at last the fight is won,
> ... Keep me still unsatisfied." --Louis Untermeyer
>
>
>
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