[nabs-l] A cane for the blind to improve social interactions

Sun Dec 11 00:12:22 UTC 2011

Hi Bridgit,

You are so right on the relying on technology aspect of it all! I 
remember listening to a demo and presentation on the Trekker 
Breeze, and Giles Pepin, the CEO of HumanWare, put a disclaimer 
out there right at the beginning which said that the Breeze, 
although it has GPS technology, is no replacement for good travel 
skills; rather, it is meant to be an addition to them.

Chris

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The 
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that 
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and 
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical 
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan (President, National Federation of the Blind, 
1968-1986

 The I C.A.N.  Foundation helps blind and visually impaired youth 
in Maryland say "I can," by empowering them through providing 
assistive technology and scholarships to camps and conventions 
which help them be equal with their sighted peers.  For more 
information about the Foundation and to support our work, visit 
us online at www.icanfoundation.info!

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Bridgit Pollpeter <bpollpeter at hotmail.com
To: <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:58:06 -0600
Subject: [nabs-l] A cane for the blind to improve social 
interactions

In and of itself, this cane isn't necessarily bad, and a lot 
worse
products have been on the market supposedly to make the lives of 
blind
individuals "better."

My problem is that one, it appears that this woman is sighted, 
and while
I have absolutely no problem with sighted people assisting in the
innovation of products for us, I think it best they work with us 
along
the way.  The article takes the slant that while a car for the 
blind is
great and all, this cane is better.  Translation: Classic example 
of the
sighted world thinking they know best.  God forbid we work 
towards goals
that actually could, and would, improve our lives; the sighted 
still
know better because they have secret information we, the blind, 
don't
have so therefore they must step in and provide that information.

Now, don't argue the car issue with me because I know we all have
varying opinions on it; I am strictly speaking to what is in this
article.  I have my own pros and cons about the car, but it is 
what is
addressed in this article in terms of what is best for the blind.  
Smile.

Look, I was sighted, so yes, there are things I miss such as 
recognizing
people from across a room, but I don't feel I'm missing out on 
social
interactions, or that my life experience is so devoid of certain 
things
now.  Just because I miss something doesn't mean I feel empty or
uninformed.

It also bothers me when anyone, blind or sighted, suggest a GPS 
will
help us avoid running objects.  If using a white cane properly, 
we don't
run into anything.  When our cane hits something, it is suppose 
to
because it's protecting our body from hitting and running into 
the
object.  Yes, we have those moments when we graze things, or are 
at just
the right angle that we goof up, and of course we all have tapped 
a
person, or slid a cane between a persons legs, but sighted people 
will
bump others, or bags and totes will slam into people.  It's not 
such a
problem that we need a device to tell us every little move.  And
personally, I don't count stairs or how many feet to something, 
so it's
funny to me that a part of this canes "job" is to inform when a 
person
we know is nearby, then give us exact steps to them, then we 
count the
steps until we find the person.  Sorry, but that's ridiculous.

Now, it would be helpful to avoid hanging objects or things high 
enough
that it's out of a canes reach, but low enough for us to run into 
with
our upper body.  We all have done it, and it's the one thing a 
white cane
can't assist us with.

My problem is not so much the cane itself, but the reasoning 
behind it
that bothers me.  As I said before, while not the worse item to 
be
developed for the blind, it seems to imply that our ability to 
interact
socially is not great, and that we are missing out on this huge
experience in life.  It's the common idea that we are severely 
lacking in
so many areas that we require special devices and technology so 
we can
"fit in." Social interaction can be difficult for anyone.  
Sighted people
can lack this just as much as blind people can be the life of a 
party.
There's no tip in the scales making one group more socially aware 
than
another.  Trust me; I've been sighted and blind so I know about 
both
worlds.

I don't think there's anything wrong with a person who might use 
such a
cane.  It does have some unique features that would be helpful 
like how
it can warn about head-level objects.  It's just the reasoning 
behind
it's development that bothers me.  And how, according to this 
article, it
makes it seem as though we don't know what is best for us.  I'm 
tired of
people who have never been blind thinking they know what is best, 
and
what my needs are.  I'm not lacking in the social department, and 
though
it's a nice luxury to be able to see and approach friends from 
across a
room, we're not missing a chunk of the human experience because 
we lack
this ability.  If you lack social interactions, perhaps you need 
to look
at yourself and wonder why.  Do you initiate conversation? Do you 
join
gatherings or participate in activities? Do you show up to events 
and
sit by a wall all night? We may not be able to "see" people 
across a
room, but we can approach people, engage in conversations and 
make
friends just like anyone else.  We don't need a special device to 
help
us.

And by the way, we're becoming way to reliant on technology.  
Blind and
sighted alike, but especially blind people.  I know so many of us 
who
refuse to learn and/or use alternative skills because we now have
technology to do it for us.  If you have poor travel skills and 
opt to
rely on an accessible GPS (which is god-awful expensive) what 
happens if
the GPS breaks, or screws up, or is stolen, or you forget it? 
Lacking
solid travel skills, how do you get around? Hmmm...  Shows you 
that
lacking social skills, or at least allegedly, is the worse of our
problems.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/

"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:16:59 -0700
From: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nabs-l] Fwd: [LCA] a cane for the blind improves social
	interactions]
Message-ID:

<CALAYQJAAokvryu+f0S+6tbsGtvbXvxema8Eh223VA5M4g_gFRg at mail.gmail.c
om
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Curious what y'all think of this.  Would anyone actually use it? 
Arielle

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