[nagdu] mobility-the deciding factor?

[Julie J]

The thing is that I know lots and lots of blind people that live 
independently, have jobs, college degrees, read Braille at amazing speeds, 
cook gourmet meals etc, but struggle with travel.  They go and do what they 
want, but never with ease or a high level of confidence.  Perhaps because 
travel is the most visible of all the blindness skills it is what we notice 
first and the first impression alters our views of what that person is 
capable of?   I don't know, but it does seem that travel ability is used to 
gauge a blind person's level of independents however unfair that is.

Julie


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Susan Jones" <sblanjones11 at sbcglobal.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 4:42 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] mobility-the deciding factor?


> Julie et al,
> My take on that is that usually, a person who has the skills to get around
> well has the wherewithal to figure out how to do other things.
> I think independent travel is the hardest one to crack.
> Besides, if one was not getting their mail red, or their bills paid, 
> that's
> not really obvious.
> Travel is a very visible thing, even for those of us who can't see.  We 
> can
> usually tell whether a person is figuring out how to get confidently from
> place to place, or not.
> Does that make any sense?
> Susan & Rhoda
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Julie J
> Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 4:27 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: [nagdu] mobility-the deciding factor?
>
> Some of the recent discussion got me to thinking about how we, as blind
> people, perceive independence or who is more capable than who.   It seems
> that we always use travel to judge who has better skills than who.  I know
> we have discussed this before, but I still have no clue why we don't use
> Braille or cooking or something else to base our judgments on.  I'm guilty
> of it too.  I've caught myself thinking if not actually saying that so and
> so isn't as well adjusted as they could be because they are always needing
> help to get places.
>
> I happen to be a very good traveler with cane or dog.  But you know what? 
> I
> read Braille at about 40 wpm.  By any measure that's slow, like 
> incredibly,
> snails pace slow.  But no one has ever said to me, "You know, you should
> really attend a center where you could get better Braille skills so you
> could be more independent."
>
> Then there is the kitchen...I really like to cook.  Generally I'm okay in
> the kitchen.  I cook most meals from scratch.  But, getting the meat,
> especially the chicken, thoroughly cooked is a constant stress for me. 
> I'm
> frequently freaked out about whether or not there is any pink in the meat.
> I know the skills.  I know how to check nonvisually, but I totally and
> completely lack chicken confidence.
>
> Am I crazy?  or don't you think that blind people always judge other blind
> people on the basis of travel skills and virtually nothing else?
>
> thoughts?
> Julie
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