[Ohio-talk] The BuzzClip And My View

[milenacleve at roadrunner.com]

Hi Barbara,

I only post these technology items for informational purposes, although I might not agree with their message.

With reference to the cane being an obhject of shame, I agree with you, although it wasn't mentioned on the blurb or on the video that it's shameful to have a cane.

Lots of these companies want you to think that you can't get along without their items; that the only way to be a competent, successful and confident blind person is to buy their product.  I disagree strongly.  No amount of technology can replace the cane or the dog, for that matter.  Using technology as a shortcut to effective travel does not prepare you to face the rigors of street traffic or rural environments.  Yes, the cane and the dog will lead you around obstacles just fine.  Of course, the cane user needs a long, white cane that goes at least up to your nose.  My cane goes about five inches over my head, affording me prenty of protection and obstacle awareness even way before I get near them.  It's true that it doesn't offer me overhead information, and the BuzzClip and other similar technologies would help with that, but for these companies to say that technology makes a blind person a more successful, competent and confident traveler is absurd.  Only good, solid mobility training, the kind that NFB centers or NFB-style centers provide, is what will make a blind person an effective traveler.  The old school techniques are the tried-and-true yardstick that measures your travel competency and street savvy.  Technology should never replace the level of practice, experience and wisdom that solid training provides.  The best it can do is possibly equip you with more information to allow you to make good decisions on the fly.  

By the way, blindness is what you make of it.  Being shameful or hating your blindness prevents you from moving forward in your life.  Rising above the nuisances of blindness will secure a better attitude for loving yourself and others.  Blindness will then be just viewed as an inconvenience, nothing more.

Thank you for your attention.

Milena