[nabs-l] The Importance Of Independent Travel

Wed Sep 10 21:21:42 UTC 2014

Good afternoon, Steve, and everyone,

I too can dig it, being moved with some indignation I must admit, 
performaing the task Ol'Sighty thought me not capable of. You know, 
really sticking it to 'im. And my brain damage renders my recalling 
what I have learned in the past about orientation, almost futile more 
often than not. And, I probably would not have hung around waiting on 
your airport cart. In factt, I have heard of people putting their 
luggage in a wheelchair or scooter. Personally, I can't see myself 
being that smoothe to drop my luggage into a wheelchair.
I did think your's was an extensive, well-rounded post and I hope I 
answered your points.
  If not, are you willing to ask again?
for today, Car

Jacobson via nabs-l wrote:
>Carly,
>
>As a blind person, I am aware and even concerned with how my actions 
>might affect other blind people, and
>therefore do my best not to use help I don't need.  Having said 
>that, my primary reasons for trying to travel as
>independently as possible have little to do with proving anything to 
>anyone.  I wil readily admit that if someone
>more or less forces me to be assisted to do something for which I do 
>not need assistance, I do feel moved to show
>them that the assistance was not required if the opportunity 
>arises.  For example, if someone insists I take an
>elevator instead of the steps when the stairs are more convenient, I 
>will probably push to take the steps since I
>know they won't be a problem.  I probably wouldn't do that with a 
>heavy suitcase, though, but I might take an
>escalator.  I wouldn't do either, though, if I didn't feel confident 
>that I could do it.  .To the greatest degree
>possible, I want to be in control of my own destiny.  I can't always 
>have the control I want, but I work hard to
>have as much as is possible.
>
>Years ago I went to the airport to fly to Washington DC.  When I got 
>to the counter and received my gate
>information, I asked for directions to the gate.  When the person 
>behind the counter acted confused, I asked if he
>would just tell me which direction to go from the counter.  I was 
>told they would get me an electric cart and that
>I should wait.  I was a little new to airport travel at that time 
>but I asked again for directions noting that I
>did not need an electric cart.  To make this long story shorter, the 
>person would not give me directions and
>refused to help me in any way except to insist that I wait for an 
>employee with a cart.  Carts were apparently in
>short supply that day and I waited and waited, not feeling I should 
>advocate.  Nowadays, I would have just picked
>a direction and asked someone else but I was too timmid then.  After 
>repeated calls for a cart, one finally
>arrived forty-five minutes later.  When I got to the gate, everyone 
>was on the plane and I just barely made it.  I
>decided then I was not going to be in that position again.  In 
>addition, someone else had to wait longer for that
>cart, probably someone who really needed it, and an airport employee 
>was tied up offering me help I neither needed
>or requested.  The more independently one can travel the more 
>options they have, and the better it is for
>everyone.
>
>Traveling independently is an important part of most jobs.  By 
>"independently," I don't mean that one never asks
>for help or even that we all have the same ability to 
>travel.  However, I have meetings with other people I need
>to attend and I'm often the only one in my area of the building 
>attending.  If I want to be hired for a job, I
>have to be able to add as little extra to what I expect from my 
>employer as possible.  Even though I'm a computer
>analyst, this means being able to travel around the complex I work 
>in as independently as possible.  Could someone
>who has more difficulty traveling do the job I am doing?  Yes, they 
>certainly could, but they might need to work
>out strategies that inconvenience their co-workers as little as 
>possible.  They would not likely succeed in the
>long run by grabbing the shoulder of "ol' sighty" out by the 
>escalator.  At least a little thought needs to be
>given to the possible inconvenience of the person from who you are 
>more or less demanding help.
>
>Finally, I have to say something about this superblind thing.  In my 
>experience, this is a term used by people who
>want to remove all responsibility from themselves to be as 
>independent as their abilities allow.  If you have an
>injury that prevents you from handling certain aspects of travel, 
>that certainly has to be taken into account.  We
>are not all going to be the same.  But does that mean you should 
>urge others to not strive for as much
>independence as possible?  That does not seem fair to me at all.  I 
>knew a man once who told me that he didn't
>have to learn to travel independently because he had a wife and five 
>kids and a secretary who worked for him.  I
>know for a fact that his secretary guided him to the men's 
>bathroom.  If he had some sort of learning disability
>that made independent travel impossible, then I would certainly 
>accept that he was managing as he could.  However,
>I also knew that he had rejected any attempts to teach him 
>independent travel which was why it was thought it
>would be helpful for me to talk to him and show up at his office on 
>my own.  He lost his sight while holding the
>job he had and apparently managed well enough to keep his job, but 
>he would have had a difficult time getting the
>job he had with his attitude.
>
>We are never all going to achieve the same degree of 
>independence.  Further, interdependence is a part of any
>civilized society to some degree.  Still we will never achieve 
>without striving.  We will never know what we can
>do without sometimes discovering things we cannot do.  Many of us 
>routinely cross busy streets, but i'll bet there
>was not a single one of us who was not scared to cross that first 
>street, or maybe the first dozen streets.  But
>if we had never taken that first scarey step, we wouldn't be 
>crossing the streets we cross routinely.  Helping
>each other strive to achieve more helps us achieve more, but it 
>doesn't mean we achieve everything for which we
>strive, but that's okay.  One very rarely ever achieves something by 
>accident, though, one has to strive to
>achieve first.  I do not find the fact that there are blind people 
>who have done things that I do not do as
>unsettling, rather it reminds me that there may be things I could do 
>as a blind person that I simply have not yet
>discovered.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Steve Jacobson
>
>On Thu, 28 Aug 2014 04:45:01 -0700, Carly Mihalakis via nabs-l wrote:
>
> >Good morning,
>
> >Personally, I like to think of it as interdependent travel, recruting
> >your fellow man, and sort of directing him where you need to go.
> >Admittedly, this means of travel found me after becoming injured such
> >that I was unable to keep track of direction and what they call rout
> >reversal, became for me no more than a pipe dream.
>
> >In my experience, however, if you just let go of this idea that to
> >prove to Ol'Sighty of  blindness' being  what is it, little more than
> >a mere inconvenience, everyone must be some kind of super blink whom,
> >by simply waving his long, white cane can travel any course, under
> >any circumstances in pitch ocular darkness. Sure, this social
> >construct is certainly possible to live within and many people do it,
> >but not everybody is super Federationist blink!
>
> >After all, interpersonal contact, I believe, is more of a palpable,
> >alternative to demonstrating to Ol'Sighty things of which most of us
> >are capable, that Ol'Sighty might remember. I'm fond of iterating
> >that Ol'Sighty cares not about the means to which the blink reaches
> >the same ends, noticing only that, eventually he gets there. So, if
> >it becomes a matter of walking through an airport, say, to
> >demonstrate to Ol'Sighty ways in which most blinks can, and do
> >advocate for themselves, it may be a plausible course of action to
> >grab Ol'Sighty from one of the hoards that are invariably around and,
> >placing your hand on his shoulder, tell him where you need to be and
> >see if he can help you. Of course, should he be in a hurry you can
> >find someone else, but wait for an indication of said sighted person
> >being unable to help. It is in this way you can actually have a
> >conversation with a sighted person, maybe even exchange names?
> >Agreed, the super blink means of seamlessly gliding through a crowd
> >is intimidating, and not exactly if I may say so myself, realistic of
> >every blink. Let that go! Probably, you are not a super blink, at
> >least by their rigid standards.
> >for today, Car
> >408-209-3239
> >   :52 AM 7/16/2014, Roanna Bacchus via nabs-l wrote:
> >>Dear Students,
> >>
> >>I'd like to discuss another topic with all of you.  On Monday I had
> >>a conversation with my mobility instructor during my training
> >>session at UCF.  We were talking about the importance of traveling
> >>independently as blind individuals.  I got very emotional while we
> >>were having this conversation and began to cry.  Because I've never
> >>traveled independently in the community, I lack the experience of
> >>traveling on my own.  Can each of you tell me your stories about
> >>inarependent travel? Hope to hear from you soon.
> >>
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