[nabs-l] The Importance Of Independent Travel

rbacchus228 at gmail.com rbacchus228 at gmail.com
Thu Jul 21 13:32:19 UTC 2016


I agree with you.

Sent from my iPad

> On Jul 21, 2016, at 9:23 AM, Justin Williams via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I agree.  Super blind to me is a little disrespectful, as well as when
> someone says, "you're just so independent."  Or, I'd fall flat on my face if
> I had to do that.  I always say, no you wouldn't, you'd do the same thing I
> do.   
> Justin
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Carly Mihalakis
> via NABS-L
> Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2016 6:32 PM
> To: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com>; National Association of Blind
> Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>; Steve Jacobson
> <steve.jacobson at visi.com>; National Association of Blind Students mailing
> list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Carly Mihalakis <carlymih at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] The Importance Of Independent Travel
> 
> Exactly.At 04:02 PM 8/28/2014, Arielle Silverman via nabs-l wrote:
>> Yes. And I have to ask, Would we call somebody "super-sightie" because 
>> they go places completely on their own, by car or on foot? I suspect 
>> not, so then why is a blind person who does the same thing 
>> "super-blind?" Why do we hold blindpeople to a different standard of 
>> independence than the sighted?
>> 
>> Arielle
>> 
>>> On 8/28/14, Steve Jacobson via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> 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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>>> 
>>> 
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