[nabs-l] canes and increasing sensation of blindness

[David Andrews]

In my opinion a person should always use his/her cane, even when 
using the sighted guide technique.  Ultimately, you are responsible 
for your mobility -- not someone else.  It isn't fair to dump the 
whole thing on them.  You have a vested interest in traveling 
safely.  Finally, if a person is on your left side, for example, they 
might misjudge the distance between you and an obstacle or another 
person on the right, away from them.  If you are using your cane on 
that side you will pick it up.

Dave

At 05:49 PM 5/2/2010, you wrote:
>Hi guys: I'm curious as to is it fine to use a cane while going sighted
>guide with someone? for instance suppose the person whom I'm going with has
>never done sighted guide with a blind person, thus doesn't know to alert us
>of steps and the like. So I was thinking that if this technique is fine to
>use it can serve two purposes:
>1.-Be able to go along sighted guide but at the same time being able to
>oneself find and sort obstacles the sighted person might not have the mind
>to let us know.
>2.-Be able to start mapping in our minds the route following, thus make it
>easier to get to know the route by ourselves.