[Nebraska-students] Driving

Mon Jul 25 01:12:17 UTC 2011

Alli,

I understand how you feel. When my twin brother began driving, I yearned to
learn alongside him. I thaught it unfair that I could not get behind the
wheel too. He also started working so he was often unable to take me places.
My friends and classmates also were usually unavailable to give me a ride. I
envied their freedom.

Then he went off to college WITHOUT his car, surprisingly. At UNL, I quickly
noticed that many students leave their automobiles behind to cut the cost of
parking and gas, and for efficiency. They walk and take busses, or arpool,
(or cab it as the last resort), just like us! It is good exercise, and does
no further harm to the environment.

Usually I found the busses to be packed; sometimes all the seats were full!

Driving, I believe, is like flying a plane, in that one must gain the skills
and earn a lisence in order to opperate any vehicle. Until recently, we as
blind individuals were not capable of iether. In the same way, only pilots
have the credentials to safely control an aircraft.

Because of the expenses, I rarely call a taxi. In the event that family
members or my peers drop me off, I try to give back by offering to pay for
fuel or asking if they would like to join me. Ocasionally I treat them.

You might find that you know of the directions, but the driver is only
relient on the GPS, so feel free to help them out!

While driving is liberating, it comes with added responsibilities.

I hope that helps.
Rachna

On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 8:53 PM, Rachael Vacanti <revacanti at gmail.com>wrote:

> Alli,
>
> I get it.  Believe me I get it.  The whole thing for meis that I live five
> minutes away from my friends and they'll not give me rides anywhere.  I've
> thought about hiring a driver, but I live way out in WestOmaha.  As much as
> I love my family, it's hard to be able to get where I need/want too.  it
> highly limits the job search I can say that.  This is why I miss Colorado
> and the trains.  Besides, it's hard only having 2 cars needing to go three
> ways and then theres me where it feels like I'm last on the list of people
> to go places.  Also, one benifit to havinga car is that sometimes I just
> want to go for a drive on my ownand have my music playing whenever I turn
> it
> on.  But your right I really want to get a car when it comes out.
>
> Rachael
>
> On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 12:00 PM, <nebraska-students-request at nfbnet.org
> >wrote:
>
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> > Today's Topics:
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> >   1. Driving (Alli L)
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:15:52 -0400
> > From: Alli L <naley.always.and.forever.xx at hotmail.com>
> > To: <nebraska-students at nfbnet.org>
> > Subject: [Nebraska-students] Driving
> > Message-ID: <SNT129-W90A878CD4718BAD0FE9BAB54C0 at phx.gbl>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> >
> > Hey guys
> > I have a question for you.  I'm bored, and a little angry I guess you
> could
> > say.  I absolutely -hate- not being able to get in a car and go where I
> want
> > to go when I want to go somewhere.  My brother got a car last week so it
> got
> > me thinking, it's so dang unfair that sighted people can drive and we
> can't.
> >  I feel like I'm being punished for something that I can't do anything
> about
> > and it's not my fault either.  I mean, sure, I live on a bus route, but
> the
> > bus doesn't run late enough or it's just a big pain in the butt because I
> > have to transfer to get to where I want/need to go or catch a ride with
> > someone.  And I can't afford a cab.  It's not like I was stupid and got a
> > DUI so that's why I don't have a license, it's because I'm blind.  When
> are
> > we going to get cars that -we- can drive?  People that know me know that
> if
> > I could I would've gotten my license the day I turned 16.  Car = freedom.
>  I
> > feel like I have to inconvenience other people to get where I need to go.
> >  I'm so sick of it!  One time I would like to be able to drive where I
> want
> > to go, have the radio on the station I want it on, and just go just once.
> >  Is that too much to ask?  I'm almost 21, so for five long years I've had
> to
> > wait for other people to take me places or wait for a time when they
> could
> > take me, or catch a bus.  It's getting to the point where it's beyond old
> > and annoying.  The day a car comes out that blind people can drive on the
> > roads, I'm getting one.
> > How do you guys deal with this?    Does anyone else feel this way (like
> > we're being punished for something we didn't do or have control over, or
> > like they're saying "everyone -except- blind people can get a license and
> > drive a car," I can't think of the word right now that I'm looking for)?
>  I
> > told my mom I just wanted to be able to drive where I wanted to go when I
> > wanted to go there and she said "well, you can hire a driver." and I
> > thought, "no, I want to be able to drive, not have someone else take me
> > where I wanna go, that's pretty much what I have now."
> >
> > Thanks for reading that big long thing.  I feel so much better now.
> >
> > This night is sparkling don't you let it goI'm wonderstruck blushing all
> > the way homeI'll spend forever wondering if you knewI was enchanted to
> meet
> > youThis night is flawless don't you let it goI'm wonderstruck dancing
> around
> > all aloneI'll spend forever wondering if you knewI was enchanted to meet
> you
> >
> > ------------------------------
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> > End of Nebraska-students Digest, Vol 79, Issue 2
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