[nfbwatlk] FW: [Nfbnet-members-list] Fwd: Offer for Orientation andMobility specialists and a discount for all of ys

[Mike Freeman]

Debby:

I think there are few among us these days who would not agree that use of
appropriate tools such as GPS or apps like Ariadne GPS or BlindSquare can be
a useful adjunct to travel. I use both Ariadne GPS and BlindSquare
occasionally. I do kind of get off your ship, though, when you advance the
thesis that some people will get out using these apps that might not
otherwise do so. The reason is pretty simple and every new user of
BlindSquare sees it right up front: the app doesn't guarantee accuracy and
cannot take the place of good O&M and special awareness. You say you can
usually reason your way out of dilemmas if you stop and think. With respect,
I maintain that this should be a constantly-used skill.

Also, though you don't say this directly, I see in your post below and in
many others on the subject the tacit assumption that sighted people don't
get lost. Believe me! This is far from the truth! It's just that we have a
few less cues perceivable from a distance than do the sighted to try to
ascertain where we are. But the most lost person I ever knew was a sighted
person (said person shall remain nameless). Yet we always got where we were
going when I was with this person. So it can be done.

You're right that most of us wouldn't choose to get lost deliberately
(although Ben Prows and I did just that one year during Washington Seminar
-- there were a street fair and an impromptu softball game on the mall we'd
have never discovered if we hadn't done it). But you'd be surprised how much
you can learn from such treks.

Yes, I know; sometimes you just want to get where you're going. But nobody
ever said life wasn't the pits sometimes. I take this as just one of the
nuisances of blindness.

Speaking of which, perhaps I should take a shower and go for my morning
walk!

Peace!

Mike


-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of debby
phillips via nfbwatlk
Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2014 2:54 PM
To: Prows, Bennett (HHS/OCR); NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List;
cane.travel at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] FW: [Nfbnet-members-list] Fwd: Offer for Orientation
andMobility specialists and a discount for all of ys

I think it can be another tool, just like a compass.  And for those of us
who are directionally challenged, this could be the difference between
getting out and staying home.  And PLEASE, don't give me the line about more
training.  I can often now get unlost by pausing and thinking about things,
like where is the traffic, and what's around me that should or shouldn't be,
but directions scramble in my head, and unlike many of you who think getting
lost is an adventure, I don't.  Because of my time at CCB, I can do it
without as much fear, but it's still not on my bucket list.  Let's see how
many times I can get lost today.  I am not interested in wasting time being
lost.  I want to get where I'm going, period.  And I could care less about
what I might learn after being lost.  I'll still have plenty of 
opportunities to get lost, even if I get BlSquare.  Lol.    Debby

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