[nabs-l] cane travel trip 2

Sat Jun 13 02:06:28 UTC 2009

When I was at BISM I went across a street and didn't even realize I had 
crossed the street until someone walking passed told me!
Rania,
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sarah Alawami" <marrie12 at gmail.com>
To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 6:25 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] cane travel trip 2


> 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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