[nfb-db] More Travel Questions...

[Kerri Kosten]

Hi Everyone:

I have some more travel questions. Sorry I always ask about travel
lol. Travel is something I immensely enjoy, and I worked extremely
hard on it during my time at LCB.
I want to give some sort of background info first, and then ask my questions.
As I've said on here before, I worked as hard as I possibly could at
LCB on my cane travel. I got to the point where mental mapping, which
I knew nothing about when I began training, improved tremendously and
now it is finally something I naturally do!! I never thought I'd get
to the point where mental mapping comes naturally to me but I think it
finally does!!
About two weeks ago, a couple of good friends came into town to visit
with me. They actually happen to be cane travel instructors at another
training center (not LCB) that teaches the structured discovery method
of cane travel.
I met them at a restaurant for lunch downtown. After lunch, we walked
around downtown, explored, and ended up taking the bus to the mall.
None of us had ever been downtown before so none of us knew where we
were going. It was wonderful!! I did great! It was like I had picked
up right where I left off when I graduated from LCB!
I was able to easily follow and keep up with them. It was so nice to
just walk around without worry or fear. When one of them would give me
a cardinal direction to turn (such as north, south, east or west), I
was able to instantly figure out which direction to turn and turned
accordingly. My mental mapping was great! I was able to tell the
difference between the sidewalk and the street. It was wonderful!
In fact, they both complimented me on my travel. Keep in mind, they
are both cane travel instructors. They told me I am no worse at cane
travel than they are!! They said the difference between them and I is
that I lack experience and I have no belief/confidence in myself!! It
was unbelievable for me to hear this, because I had worked so hard at
cane travel and my hearing really affects my travel.
Anyway, here is my problem and my questions.
I do wonderful at travel when there is someone with me or I am in a group.
However, even though I graduated from LCB, one of my biggest fears is
still traveling by myself.
I did wonderfully with my friends a couple of weeks ago, but when I
think about going downtown by myself I become very afraid.
I do not like this at all, because getting over my fears was something
I worked very hard at at LCB. I also don't want my fears of traveling
to limit me in any way.
I don't want to be scared of travel like I was before I went to training!!
I believe one of the biggest reasons for my fear is that I am afraid
of what I am not hearing. I'm also afraid to cross unfamiliar streets
because I can't localize and tell which street is going when there is
traffic.
I don't like this though. I want to keep up my confidence, and I don't
want to be afraid of travel!! Obviously, I must not be as bad as I
think because of all the compliments my friends gave me during their
visit.
Okay, here are my questions.
How do you get over being afraid of what you don't hear when traveling
by yourself?
When you are traveling in a relatively unfamiliar area with
sidewalks(such as a downtown area for example) how do you handle
crossing streets? Do you get assistance on every street or do you just
get assistance on the busier/lighted intersections?
I guess one of the things that makes me nervous about going downtown
by myself is that I'm not familiar with the streets. When I was with
my friends, we crossed together so it wasn't completely up to me to
make the decision.
I did several independent routes at LCB but by that time I knew which
streets I could cross with my hearing and which streets I needed to
get assistance on.
So, when you have severe hearing loss and you are traveling in an
unfamiliar area how do you handle the street crossings? Do I just
listen, and if I hear that the street doesn't sound very busy than I
know I can cross it, and if it sounds busy or is lighted than I have
to get assistance?
I am sorry to ask these questions on list but I don't want my fears I
worked so hard to fight at LCB to develop again. Also, I want to go to
some football games later this year and I don't want to be afraid. I
also have been asked to apply for a possible job/opportunity this
summer in Baltimore, and I don't want to be afraid of that either.
Thanks so much!
Kerri