[nabs-l] Cane travel

[sarah.jevnikar at utoronto.ca]

Jim,
You should be proud of yourself. Especially considering your initial  
hesitations about blindness and anything that came with it. You're  
doing great.


Quoting Jim Reed <jim275_2 at yahoo.com>:

> Hey all,
>
> I found out the hard way that good cane travel skills work, and bad   
> cane travel skills hurt. I began by making a rookiee mistake; I   
> needed to walk an "L" shaped route, and instead of walking the "L"   
> shape, I decided to zig-zag my route, and I subsequently got myself   
> lost. Once I got lost, I took off my glasses, and I stopped   
> trusting/listening to my cane; instead I was relying on my vision,   
> and not too much later, I tripped over something and took a header   
> off of something metal (I got a little lump, but otherwise I am   
> fine.) After I cracked myself in the head, I became gunshy and   
> started using "baby steps" with my cane. I eventually got over it   
> and resumed full strides. I guess that is just the first of many   
> cane travel-related injuries I will sustain in my lifetime, so I   
> better get used to it.
>
> On the positive side, there were several streaches where I got in   
> the groove; my cane rythm was smooth, like I had been doing it for   
> years. But just as quickly as I got into those grooves, I fell right  
>  back out of rythm.
>
> I think alot of that rythm came from somewhat mastering the open   
> palm technique/grip. I am right handed, and essentially what I did   
> was make a grip where my index finger was running down the side of   
> the cane, and most of the cane's weight was being supported by my   
> middle finger which served as the pivot point for the cane. Basicly,  
>  I would use my index finger to push the cane to the left, then I   
> would use my palm to push it back to the right. Since the cane was   
> essentially free to pivot on my middle finger, both my palm and my   
> index finger served as "springboards" which propelled the cane in   
> whichever direction I wanted it to go. Because I wasn't exactly   
> gripping the cane, this grip was more comfortable and somewhat less   
> painful. However, this grip also felt less secure (like the cane   
> could easily be ripped from my hand by an obstacle), and I also feel  
>  like I got less feedback from the cane using this grip than I did   
> when I had the cane in a death grio.
>
> Its kinda funny, a while ago, a friend and I were talking about Dr.   
> Jernigian's speech "The Nature of Independnece",  and I basicly made  
>  a comment that essentially said "Big deal, a grown man (Jernigian)   
> can walk to the barber shop by himself." Now, I am essentially doing  
>  the same thing,  I am bragging about being able to walk to and from  
>  school on my own. In once sense, I feel childish for bragging about  
>  something as simple as walking to class, but at the same time I am   
> proud of myself for having done it,
>
> Thats all for now,
> peace,
> 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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