[nabs-l] cane travel trip 2

Fri Jun 12 22:25:38 UTC 2009

Oh lol. Yeah I've made that mistake too, especially when going to down to
tech drive. Those cars sound about 2 inches away from your foot. I also use
the tap slide methid to indicate what's gong on, or I will once I get my
ballence  back in order. I use a conbonation of both tap slide and the
constant contact. Good luck in your cane travel.

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Arielle Silverman
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 1:17 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] cane travel trip 2

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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