<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Helvetica;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Helvetica;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:10.0pt;
margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:12.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Settlement agreement brings into focus how blind people get around — a lot like those with sight do<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:12.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:12.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Joshua Polson/jpolson@greeleytribune.com | The Greeley Tribune<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:12.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:12.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Melissa Green sits with her cane last week at her home in Greeley. Green is just one of the blind faced with the challenges of navigating Greeley.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:11.25pt;line-height:10.5pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>A few friendly tips <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:11.25pt;line-height:10.5pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Here are some helpful tips from folks we spoke with: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:11.25pt;line-height:10.5pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>» Say “Hello” — Blind people don’t necessarily need your help. Along with showing good manners, saying “hello” opens up a conversation if indeed somebody needs your help. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:11.25pt;line-height:10.5pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>» Be vigilant — Whether the pedestrians are blind or sighted, it’s good to keep an eye out before barreling into a crosswalk with your car. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:11.25pt;line-height:10.5pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>» Be extra vigilant — If you drive a hybrid or electric car, chances are you don’t make nearly as much noise as other cars. So pay special attention to pedestrians when you come upon crosswalks. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:11.25pt;line-height:10.5pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>» Be nice — Try to avoid yelling at people, revving your engine or other intimidating behaviors aimed at any pedestrian. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:11.25pt;line-height:10.5pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>More information <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:11.25pt;line-height:10.5pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>For more information about the Colorado Center for the Blind, go to <a href="http://www.cocenter.org/"><span style='color:#0A5EAC'>http://www.cocenter.org</span></a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>One of Melissa Green's final tests involved making a list, going to the grocery store and then cooking a meal for 40 people. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>She wasn't training for a culinary arts degree. Instead, Green, who is the director of the Montessori Academy of Northern Colorado in Greeley, was finishing up her time at the Colorado Center for the Blind. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The goal of the center is building confidence and increasing independence of those who are blind. Green said as a black girl growing up in the neighborhood she did in New Jersey, she didn't get the type of training she could have or should have. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>For example, she was told she could only possibly ever cook using the oven. Now, she makes pancakes on the stove, which seems tame compared to the rock climbing, skiing and white water rafting, which she did at the Center for the Blind. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The idea is this: Blind people can do almost anything people with sight can do. And local residents, including Green, say it's a message people with sight should hear too, particularly in the wake of a settlement agreement between Greeley and a blind pedestrian struck by a vehicle two years ago near the University of Northern Colorado. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Discovering how it happened, and what can be done to prevent it, requires more understanding of how blind people navigate the city. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Both Maria Madrigal Luz and Zachary Dreicer, the people struck crossing 11th Avenue in late 2014, spent time at the Colorado Center for the Blind. Travel cane instructor David Nietfeld knew them both. And instructors at the center spent time talking about the incident when it happened. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>"It's something we've talked about to demonstrate how the audible signals aren't the best thing to be relying on and using," Nietfeld said <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Greeley residents who are blind, including Green, agreed. The audible signal seems to lie somewhere between distraction and annoyance in terms of helpfulness, at least to some. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Green said she listens for traffic patterns before she decides to cross a street. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>UNC student JJ Aragon said she thinks the audible signals are useful, but she doesn't recommend using them as the only guide to crossing the street. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>"I'll hear the tweet, and I'm aware that it's theoretically safe to cross, but I still make sure to listen for traffic," Aragon said. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Dan Burke, who also works at the center, said sometimes the audible signals are so loud you can't tell which direction they're coming from, and they drown out the sound of traffic. He likens relying on those alone to sighted people failing to look both ways after seeing the walk signal. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Greeley has just a handful of audible signals. Aragon said she doesn't have much trouble getting around the city, saying the people are friendly. She used Denver as a comparison. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>"(Greeley-Evans Transit) staff are a lot more friendly," Aragon said. "They take time to talk to you and get to know you. It makes traveling more easy." <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Sometimes, the friendliness goes overboard. Aragon has had people get out of their cars to help her when she's simply listening to traffic.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Green sometimes takes paratransit, a service offered by GET. She uses a cane as well as PJ, her yellow lab, to help her around. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Green hasn't had the same experience, saying she's been the victim of heckling and other offensive actions while walking around town. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Aragon said she didn't mind the over-friendliness, but said some blind people would be offended. For Burke, it's an annoyance because it comes across as a sighted person "knowing what he needs." <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Here's what he, and others, need, both Burke and Nietfeld said: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:15.0pt;line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>"If I could say one thing and talk to everybody in the world all at once, I would say if you see a blind person and you're wondering if they're OK, just say 'Hello,'" Nietfeld said. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>