[nabs-l] The Importance Of Independent Travel
Jameyanne Fuller
jameyanne at gmail.com
Thu Jul 21 14:48:04 UTC 2016
I've had people tell me, "If I was blind, I would just lie in bed all day. I
wouldn't be able to do anything." And my response to this is always "I
highly doubt that. Eventually you'd have to pee." Possibly not appropriate,
but it's just such a stupid thing to say.
-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Roanna Bacchus
via NABS-L
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2016 9:32 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: rbacchus228 at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] The Importance Of Independent Travel
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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