[blindkid] To sign or not to sign

Mon Feb 25 19:39:40 UTC 2013

I would also add that:
If in a neighborhood where traffic is sooo bad...wouldn't it be bad for all children? then it seems truly effective measures such as pedestrian bridges, speed bumps in the road and crossing aids would be championed to the City Council...this has been done and is effective. but again, that is due to unusual traffic not unusual lack of ability to manage the dangers of a street.

Somewhere i think Heather...mentioned a blind child would not go after a ball...well a low vision child very well might..and be focused not on sound but the four feet in front of him or her.
Parents should be aware of that type of tendency or an other individual risk and train and or supervise accordingly IMO.
Carrie
Sent from my iPad

On Feb 25, 2013, at 12:38 PM, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Again, I don't expect anybody to know that I am blind and I don't rely
> on their knowledge of my blindness to keep me safe when crossing the
> street. Instead I rely on my hearing and tactile cues to take
> responsibility for my own safety. Somebody who is gunning their engine
> to scare pedestrians is just as obvious to me as they are to a sighted
> person.
> I agree there are inattentive folks who will break canes without even
> realizing what they are doing. I would submit that such folks  are
> unlikely to be snapped into attention by a sign. However, if a sighted
> person breaks my cane, in most cases, I consider it partly my fault
> and partly theirs. They should be looking out but it's also my
> responsibility to listen for people approaching on foot or on a
> bicycle and most especially in a car, and to adjust my cane
> accordingly so it's not in their path. The last two times I remember
> my cane being broken, I was partially to blame (one time I was talking
> on my cell phone, the other time I suddenly changed my mind about
> which direction to walk and the bicyclist had no warning).
> It's important for blind folks to take responsibility for their own
> safety when traveling and this is a lesson that can begin to be taught
> at a young age.
> Arielle
> 
> On 2/25/13, Albert J Rizzi <albert at myblindspot.org> wrote:
>> Eric,
>> That might be your experience, and I must respectfully let you know that
>> has not been mine. It has nothing to do with my mobility skills in any way.
>> after only being blind for 7 years, I travel the subway system in nyc, as
>> well as travel no less than 6 times a year nationally, coast to coast.
>> 
>> Again, forewarned is forearmed.
>> 
>> I have had people step on and break my cane three times in my first months
>> as a blind person, which motivated me to get a dog as my preferred mode of
>> mobility. I travel well either by cane or by dog, and still experience,
>> while out on the streets, people seemingly not aware, that I am not some
>> jim
>> dandy with a walking stick, or a professional dog walker.
>> 
>> Some of the reasoning given on both sides of this discussion are
>> understandable but like I have said we all have an opinion, and a choice. I
>> choose to sign, and it in no ways minimizes , or negates my skills for
>> mobility. Environmental signage is designed to open the eyes of people
>> driving in an area to circumstances and concerns that allow them the
>> maximum
>> amount of information to keep themselves and others safe on the road. The
>> points have been raised about that for sure, and I assert, that my desire
>> to
>> take that extra precautionary measure, to ensure that I do not become a
>> speed bump is one, as a parent, and as an educator, I would support
>> completely.
>> 
>> We cannot always be sure that the general public knows what a white cane
>> means or a guide dog for that matter. I was standing in a court house
>> speaking to a lawyer, with, I would assume,  a jurist doctorate, and she
>> did
>> not know what  the cane meant or that I was even blind, until I told her.
>> when I sounded shocked, her response was, "how would I know you were blind
>> unless you told me?" when I held up the cane, asserting that it was an
>> international symbol that I was in fact blind, she admitted she did not
>> know
>> about that fact, and apologized.
>> 
>> To think that a lawyer, who is also most probably a licensed driver had no
>> clue about the white cane, begs the question, what do we do in those
>> instances where it is not safe to assume that people know about the white
>> cane?
>> What do we do in those instances when a person is not someone who is as
>> intelligent and knowledgeable  as we would assume a lawyer would and should
>> be is behind the wheel of a car and seeing a person, regardless of age,
>> with
>> what they perceive is a stick, and not a white cane, and thinking it is a
>> person who is not conforming to the usual steps your average pedestrian
>> would take, is then inclined to teach that person a lesson, and given the
>> rash of murders and killings that happen daily, it is not outside the realm
>> of possibility that someone could or would intentionally attempt to scare
>> the person from ever walking in the street again, only to hit said person,
>> and found out after the fact they killed someone who had little clue that
>> the car was even heading at them. of course we are also assuming as we are
>> needing to do, that the car made no apparent sound to warn the independent
>> and adept traveler of the oncoming car barreling down upon them.
>> 
>> 
>> Wouldn't information and signage opening those eyes make it a safer way to
>> go, and deal with building and strengthening the esteem of a living
>> individual, rather than mourning the loss of a life?  To say nothing about
>> then having to deal with helping that person who was driving the car to put
>> their lives together after having to live with that guilt?
>> 
>> We are going to have to respectfully agree to disagree here, because as a
>> new entrant into this community, I feel that there has not been enough
>> education out there to allow me to feel safe to rely on a hope that someone
>> knows I am blind from the cane I carry or the amount of metal and leather
>> upon my dog.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blindkid [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Eric
>> Calhoun
>> Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 12:15 PM
>> To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: Re: [blindkid] To sign or not to sign
>> 
>> I agree with Arielle here, Albert.  You do not have to broadcast your
>> incapacitation to everyone; it's in full view.  A driver needs to see to it
>> that he or she slows down, and stops.  We blind people learn from our
>> parallel, green, or perpendicular, red, stimuli.  This means that a child
>> is
>> conditioned to follow our lead in crossing the street, which is not needed.
>> ..
>> 
>> Eric from Los Angeles.  May 2013 be the best ever, and may the rest of your
>> life be a joyous occasion. Eric on Facebook: eric at pmpmail.com.  On Night
>> Talk: 914-940-1028.  Confidentiality Notice: This email is for the sole use
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>> 
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> 
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